Facts + Statistics: Global catastrophes

Global Catastrophes

Insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled $130 billion, 76 percent above the 21st century average, and 18 percent higher than 2020, according to the 2021 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report from Aon.
Hurricane Ida was the largest insured loss event in 2021 and the fourth costliest hurricane on record with $36 billion in insured losses.
There were 20 billion-dollar insured loss events in 2021, the fourth highest on record. Insured losses of $17 billion from winter weather, was the costliest on record for this peril.
The $13 billion insured losses from European floods was the costliest disaster on record for the continent. Aon noted that roughly 38 percent of global economic losses were covered by insurance, translating to a protection gap of 62 percent.
Natural catastrophes in 2021 resulted in a total global economic loss of $270 billion, according to Swiss Re’s sigma report. Of those global economic losses, only $111 billion were actually insured. (Aon’s and Swiss Re’s figures differ because of different collection methods and criteria for classifying events).
According to the Swiss Re sigma report, man-made disasters totaled $10 billion in 2021, of which $8 billion were insured.
Marsh publishes a biennial report on the 100 largest losses in the hydrocarbon industry which summarizes the largest property damage losses from the hydrocarbon extraction, transport, and processing industry between 1974 and 2021.

World Natural Disaster Events Ranked by Number Of Insured Losses, 2022 (1)

Rank	Peril	Insured loss (US$ billions)
1	Tropical cyclone	$56
2	Severe weather (2)	38
3	Flooding	12
4	Drought	12
5	EU Windstorm	6
6	Winter weather	5
7	Earthquake	3
8	Wildfire	1
9	Other	0
	Total	133 (3)

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least US$25 million in insured losses; or 10 deaths; or 50 people injured; or 2,000 filed claims or homes and structures damaged. As of January 2023.
(2) Includes severe convective storms such as thunderstorms, tornadoes and hailstorms, straight-line winds and flooding that could occur with these storms.
(3) Chart total and amount cited in text may be different due to rounding by the source, Aon.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest World Natural Disasters By Insured Losses, 1900-2022 (1)

(2022 US$ billions)

Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Insured loss (2)
1	Aug. 2005	U.S.	Hurricane Katrina	$99
2	Sept. 2022	U.S., Cuba	Hurricane Ian	53
3	Mar. 11, 2011	Japan	2011 Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami	47
4	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Irma	40
5	Aug.-Sep. 2021	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Ida	39
6	Oct. 2012	U.S.	Hurricane Sandy	39
7	Aug. 2017	U.S.	Hurricane Harvey	36
8	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Maria	36
9	Aug. 1992	U.S., Bahamas	Hurricane Andrew	34
10	Jan. 17, 1994	U.S.	Northridge Earthquake	31

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least US$25 million in insured losses; or 10 deaths; or 50 people injured; or 2,000 filed claims or homes and structures damaged. Losses for hurricanes in the United States include losses for the National Flood Insurance Program. As of January 2023.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

Note: Loss data shown here may differ from figures shown elsewhere for the same event due to differences in the date of publication, the geographical area covered and other criteria used by organizations collecting the data.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Deadliest World Natural Catastrophes, 2022 (1)

Rank	Date	Country	Event	Deaths
1	Jul. 10-20	Western, Southern and Central Europe	Heatwave	15,450
2	Jun. 13-19	Western, Southern and Central Europe	Heatwave	3,750
3	May 17-Oct. 31	India	India seasonal floods	2,135
4	Jun. 14-Oct. 30	Pakistan	Pakistan seasonal floods	1,739
5	Jun. 22	Afghanistan, Pakistan	Earthquake	1,163
6	Jul. 1-Oct. 31	Nigeria	Nigeria seasonal floods	660
7	Nov. 21	Indonesia	Cianjur Earthquake	603
8	Apr. 8-15	South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal floods	455
9	Feb. 15-16	Brazil	Rio de Janeiro floods	232
10	Apr. 8-13	Phlippines	Tropical Storm Megi	214
All other events				~4,900
Total				~31,300

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least 10 deaths. As of January 2023.
(2) Includes severe convective storms such as thunderstorms, tornadoes and hailstorms, straight-line winds and flooding that could occur with these storms.

~ =Approximately.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Deadliest World Natural Catastrophes, 1950-2022 (1)

Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Deaths
1	Nov. 12, 1970	Bangladesh	Cyclone Bhola	300,000
2	Jul. 27, 1976	China	Tangshan earthquake	242,769
3	Jul. 30, 1975	Taiwan, China	Super Typhoon Nina	230,029
4	Dec. 26, 2004	Indian Ocean Basin	Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami	227,898
5	Jan. 12, 2010	Haiti	Port-au-Prince earthquake	160,000
6	Apr. 1991	Bangladesh	Cyclone Gorky	139,000
7	May 2008	Myanmar	Cyclone Nargis	138,366
8	Aug. 1971	Vietnam	Vietnam floods	100,000
9	Oct. 8, 2005	Pakistan	Kashmir earthquake	88,000
10	May 12, 2008	China	Sichuan earthquake	87,652

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least 10 deaths. Does not include drought or heatwave events. As of January 2023.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest Global Tropical Cyclones by Insured Losses, 1900-2022 (1)

(2022 US$ billions)

				Insured loss
Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Dollars when occurred	In 2022 dollars (2)
1	Aug. 2005	U.S.	Hurricane Katrina	$65	$99
2	Sep. 2022	U.S., Cuba	Hurricane Ian	53	53
3	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Irma	33	40
4	Aug. 2021	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Ida	36	39
5	Oct. 2012	U.S., Caribbean, Canada	Hurricane Sandy	30	39
6	Aug. 2017	U.S.	Hurricane Harvey	30	36
7	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Maria	30	36
8	Aug. 1992	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Andrew	16	34
9	Sep. 2008	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Ike	18	25
10	Oct. 2005	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Wilma	13	19

(1) Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2023.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. consumer price index.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest Global Severe Convective Storms by Insured Losses, 1900-2022 (1)

(2022 US$ billions)

				Insured loss
Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Dollars when occurred	In 2022 dollars (2)
1	Aug. 2020	U.S.	Severe convective storm (includes Midwest Derecho)	$9.2	$10.5
2	Apr. 2011	U.S.	2011 Super Outbreak	7.3	9.7
3	May 2011	U.S.	Joplin Tornado/Severe convective storm	6.9	9.1
4	May 2003	U.S.	Severe convective storm	3.2	5.2
5	Jul. 2013	Europe	Storm Andreas	3.8	4.9
6	May 2019	U.S.	Severe convective storm	3.7	4.3
7	Apr. 2016	U.S.	San Antonio Hailstorm	3.2	4.0
8	Jun. 2014	Europe	Storm Ela	3.1	3.9
9	Jun. 2021	Europe	June 17-25 Outbreak	3.5	3.8
10	Apr. 2001	U.S.	St. Louis Hailstorm	2.2	3.7

(1) Includes severe convective storms such as thunderstorms, tornadoes and hailstorms, straight-line winds and flooding that could occur with these storms. Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2023.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. consumer price index.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest Global Wildfires by Insured Losses, 1900-2022 (1)

(2022 US$ billions)

				Insured loss
Rank	Date	Country	Event	Dollars when occurred	In 2022 dollars (2)
1	Nov. 2018	U.S.	Camp Fire	$10.0	$11.8
2	Oct. 2017	U.S.	Tubbs Fire	8.7	10.5
3	Nov. 2018	U.S.	Woolsey Fire	4.2	5.0
4	Oct. 1991	U.S.	Oakland (Tunnel) Fire	1.7	3.7
5	Oct. 2017	U.S.	Atlas Fire	3.0	3.6
6	May 2016	Canada	Horse Creek Fire	2.9	3.5
7	Sep.-Oct. 2020	U.S.	Glass Fire	3.0	3.4
8	Aug.-Sep. 2020	U.S.	CZU Lightning Complex Fire	2.5	2.9
9	Dec. 2017	U.S.	Thomas Fire	2.2	2.7
10	Dec. 2021	U.S.	Marshall Fire	2.5	2.7

(1) Individual wildfires. Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2023.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. consumer price index.

Source: Aon.

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Nuclear incidents

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rates the severity of nuclear incidents on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) from one (indicating an anomaly) to seven (indicating a major event). The scale considers an event’s impact based on three criteria: its effect on people and the environment; whether it caused unsafe levels of radiation in a facility; and if preventive measures did not function as intended. Scales six and seven designate full meltdowns, where the nuclear fuel reactor core overheats and melts. Partial meltdowns, in which the fuel is damaged, are rated four or five.

Selected Examples of Historic Nuclear Events, as Classified by the INES Scale (1)

Level	INES description	Example	Location	Year
1	Anomaly	Fast stop of the main circulation pumps and simultaneous loss of their fly wheel systems during reactor scram	Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant, Finland	2008
		Exposure of two workers in the nuclear power plant beyond the dose constraints	Rajasthan Nuclear Power Plant, India	2012
2	Incident	Reactor trip due to high pressure in the reactor pressure vessel	Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant, Mexico	2011
		Overexposure of a practitioner in interventional radiology exceeding the annual limit	Paris, France	2013
3	Serious incident	Release of iodine 131 into the environment from the radioelements production facility	Fleurus, Belgium	2008
		Severe overexposure of a radiographer	Lima, Peru	2012
4	Accident with local consequences	Radioactive material in scrap metal facility resulted in acute exposure of scrap dealer	New Delhi, India	2010
		Overexposure of four workers at an irradiation facility	Stamboliysky, Bulgaria	2011
5	Accident with wider consequences	Severe damage to the reactor core	Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, USA	1979
		Four people died after being overexposed from an abandoned and ruptured high activity source	Goiania, Brazil	1987
6	Serious accident	Significant release of radioactive material to the environment after the explosion of a high activity waste tank	Kyshtym, Russian Federation	1957
7	Major accident	Significant release of radioactive material to the environment resulting in widespread health and environmental effects	Chernobyl, Ukraine	1986
		Significant release of radioactive material to the environment resulting in widespread environmental effects	Fukushima, Japan	2011