In a recent press release, the re-insurance company Swiss Re announced that global disaster-related insurance losses were relatively low in the first half (H1) of 2014 as per preliminary estimates. They amounted to USD 21 billion. Of these, losses related to disasters triggered by natural hazards are estimated at USD 19 billion for H1 2014.
Total economic losses from disaster events (both insured and uninsured) reached USD 44 billion in H1 2014.
As compared to the USD 21 billion of 2014, insured losses in H1 2014 were lower than in H1 2013 (USD 25 billion) and lower than the average first-half year loss of the previous 10 years (USD 27 billion). Insured losses linked to disasters triggered by natural hazards (USD 19 billion) were also lower than in the previous year (USD 21 billion) and below the average first-half year loss of the previous 10 years (USD 23 billion).
Losses were mostly linked to severe storms over the US in mid-May, extreme winter conditions in the US and in Japan, intense storms in Western Europe, and severe flood events in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and other eastern European countries.
