Natural disasters cause $310 bn in economic losses in 2024

ZURICH, Switzerland: Natural disasters have caused an estimated $310 billion in economic losses around the world this year, swelling six percent from 2023 as the climate crisis takes its toll, reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Thursday.

Insured losses, meanwhile, swelled by 17 percent year-on-year to $135 billion, with the devastating hurricanes Helene and Milton pushing up the costs, Swiss Re said in a statement.

It marks the fifth consecutive year that insured losses have topped $100 billion, the Swiss company said.

“Much of this increasing loss burden results from value concentration in urban areas, economic growth, and increasing rebuilding costs,” Balz Grollimund, Swiss Re’s head of catastrophe and perils, said in a statement.

Swiss Re, which serves as an insurer of insurance companies, emphasised the impact of climate change, with this year set to be declared the hottest year on record.

“By favouring the conditions leading to many of this year’s catastrophes, climate change is also playing an increasing role,” Grollimund said.

The company highlighted in particular the swelling insurance cost of floods, with intense flooding in Europe and the United Arab Emirates alone seeing insurers dish out $13 billion.

2024 was thus the third-costliest year for floods globally and the second costliest for Europe, it said.

The United States meanwhile saw the highest insured losses.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck the southeast United States in quick succession in late September and early October, alone resulted in estimated insured losses approaching $50 billion, Swiss Re said.

Coupled with a high frequency of severe thunderstorms, this meant the United States accounted for at least two-thirds of 2024’s total global insured losses, its estimates showed.