Cost of natural and man-made disasters in H1 2020

According to Swiss Re, natural and man-made disasters during H1 2020 amounted to 75 billion USD which represents a 31.59% increase compared to the same period of 2019.

Less than half of the losses, that is 31 billion USD, were borne by insurers. Costing up to 21 billion USD, thunderstorms and tornadoes in North America accounted for the largest fraction of insured losses.

Economic losses caused by natural disasters have reached 72 billion USD. They are almost 20 billion USD higher than those recorded in H1 2019.

Human activity, on the other hand, has caused up to 3 billion USD of economic losses, declining by 2 billion USD. This drop in the number of claims is due to the reduced activity during the lockdown period.

N.B.: the cost related to the Covid-19 pandemic is not taken into account by Swiss Re.