Top 10 Costliest World Insurance Losses, 1970-2016 (1)

(2016 $ millions)

Rank Date Country Event Insured loss
1 Aug. 25, 2005 U.S., Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Katrina, storm surge, damage to oil rigs $80,699
2 Mar. 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake (Mw 9.0) triggers tsunami 37,344
3 Oct. 24, 2012 U.S., Caribbean, Canada Hurricane Sandy, storm surge 30,141
4 Aug. 23, 1992 U.S., Bahamas Hurricane Andrew, floods 27,368
5 Sep. 11, 2001 U.S. Terror attacks on WTC, Pentagon and other buildings 25,456
6 Jan. 17, 1994 U.S. Northridge earthquake (Mw 6.7) 24,773
7 Sep. 6, 2008 U.S., Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Hurricane Ike, floods, damage to oil rigs 22,577
8 Feb. 22, 2011 New Zealand Earthquake (Mw 6.1), aftershocks 17,072
9 Sep. 2, 2004 U.S., Caribbean, Venezuela Hurricane Ivan, damage to oil rigs 16,417
10 Jul. 27, 2011 Thailand Heavy monsoon rains, extreme flooding  16,005
(1) Property and business interruption losses, excludes life and liability losses. Includes flood losses in the United States insured via the National Flood Insurance Program. Adjusted to 2016 dollars by Swiss Re. 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: Swiss Re, sigma, No. 2/2017.