Insured losses from major natural catastrophes in 2019 totaled roughly $53.0 billion, about 18 percent lower than the annual average since 2011, according to a report from Willis Re.

This figure compares with Aon’s recently released total of $71 billion for 2019’s natural disasters and Munich Re’s total of approximately $52 billion.

Willis Re’s report said 2019 continues a relative period of calm compared to 2017, when the total loss reached a peak of $143 billion.

The total loss figure for last year again arises from a series of smaller and medium-sized events, since no very large natural catastrophe losses were incurred, said Willis Re’s Summary of Natural Catastrophe Events 2019. Willis Re is the reinsurance broking division of Willis Towers Watson.

The report explained that the annual average of $65 billion is being driven upwards by peak annual losses of $120 billion in 2011 and $143 billion in 2017, which each brought multiple $10 billion-plus events. When the average excludes these peak years, the 2019 total is 14 percent above the annual average, Willis Re affirmed.

The largest insured catastrophe losses in 2019 were in Japan, where tropical cyclones Faxai in September and Hagibis in October had insured losses of circa US$7.0 billion and US$8.0 billion, respectively, the report continued.

In the U.S., the largest events were Hurricane Dorian with wide ranging loss estimates and a thunderstorm affecting the High and Central Plains and the eastern U.S., which brought insured losses of between $3.0 billion and $4.0 billion, said the report.

Elsewhere in the world, no billion-dollar losses occurred, said Willis Re. At year-end, the total reported loss cost of Australia’s wildfires, which straddled 2019/20, had reached roughly US$900 million.

The reinsurance broker said the Australian bushfire losses now exceed US$1 billion based on current exchange rates, so the 2019 share of the total may reach the billion-dollar threshold as further claims and their dates of loss are reported.

North America had the largest insured catastrophe-loss bill, with around 46 percent of the global total in 2019, closely followed by Asia Pacific with 38 percent, said Willis Re.

“Despite this being a lower than average year compared to the previous decade, we have still seen some extreme and unusual events, including back-to-back typhoon losses in Japan, and the large number and scale of bushfires in Australia,” commented Karl Jones, head of Catastrophe Analytics, Willis Re International.

Vaughn Jensen, executive vice president and head of North America Catastrophe Analytics at Willis Re, said: “The year will come as a relative relief to reinsurers, following the extremely costly events of 2017 and 2018. However, the year did bring the strongest-ever landfalling hurricane in the Atlantic, Hurricane Dorian.”

Source: Willis Re

*This story ran previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.