Munich Re Says 60% of Last Year's $210 Billion Natural-Disaster Losses Were Uninsured
January 07 2021 - 5:32AM
Dow Jones News
By Olivia Bugault
Natural catastrophes such as floods and storms caused losses of
$210 billion world-wide in the last year, with a record hurricane
season and major wildfires, reinsurer Munich Re said Thursday.
Around 60% of the overall losses caused by natural catastrophe
were uninsured in 2020, and cost some 8,200 lives, the company
said. Financial losses were significantly higher than the previous
year when natural catastrophes cost $166 billion, Munich Re
said.
North America suffered the most damages as the U.S. was hit by
historic wildfires in the West while Hurricane Laura, the most
destructive event in the country last year, caused $13 billion in
losses alone. Natural disasters in the U.S. accounted for $95
billion of overall losses last year, compared with $51 billion in
2019, Munich Re said.
"In Asia, losses from natural disasters were lower than in the
previous year, although summer floods in China represented the
costliest individual event world-wide," Munich Re said. Losses in
Asia amounted to $67 billion overall compared with $77 billion in
2019.
Europe suffered from fewer major natural disasters and losses
came to $12 billion in total in 2020, the company said.
Munich Re said 2020 was another hot year and could be the second
warmest year on record, with a notably sharp rise in temperatures
in the Arctic Circle.
Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 07, 2021 06:17 ET (11:17 GMT)
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