Insured losses from natural disasters around the globe reached $20 billion in the first six months of 2013, but still fell 20 percent below last year’s first-half figure of $25 billion, according to a new report.

The report from Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting also reveals that roughly 50 percent of the insured losses were recorded in the United States, which represents a decrease from the 83 percent in first-half 2012.

Globally, economic losses of $85 billion were up from last year’s total of $75 billion, but lower than the 10-year (2003-2012) average of $100 billion, the report says.

In order of size, the five largest economic loss first-half 2013 events were:

• The Central Europe floods during May/June, $22 billion.
• The China earthquake on April 20, $14 billion.
• The Brazil drought, $ 8.3 billion.
• The U.S. severe weather outbreak from May 18-22, $4.5billion.
• The China drought, $4.2 billion.

There were seven first-half 2013 that had insured losses in excess of $1 billion. The top 5 are listed in the chart below.

The other two were the June 2013 floods in Canada and a U.S. winter storm in April, each estimated at $1 billion in insured losses.

The flood peril was the costliest disaster type during first-half of this year, comprising 42 percent of the economic loss total and 43 percent of the insured loss total, with significant flood events occurring in Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia.

Source: Aon Benfield Impact Forecasting