The numbers of the reinsurer Munich Re show that insured losses from natural disasters in 2023 have decreased to 95 billion US dollars, compared to 125 billion in the previous year. However, the total losses amounted to 250 billion dollars, mainly due to the only partially insured earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Munich Re board member Thomas Blunck emphasized: "The past year was characterized by very high losses from natural disasters despite the absence of exceptional individual events." For example, in 2022, Hurricane "Ian" caused damages amounting to 60 billion dollars for the industry. Such an event did not occur this year, however, Munich Re has never before recorded such high storm damages in North America and Europe.
$50 billion in insured thunderstorm damages were recorded in North America alone. In Europe, the total damage amounted to $8 billion, partly due to severe weather in the Alpine region and the Mediterranean. The hurricane season, which usually has a strong impact on reinsurer results, was surprisingly mild.
However, the sudden storm "Otis" caused devastation in the vacation spot Acapulco and resulted in damages of around 12 billion dollars. Thanks to the high insurance coverage, the damages amounted to approximately 4 billion dollars.
Thus, this was the third most expensive catastrophe of the year. However, the most expensive and devastating natural disaster of the year was the earthquake in Turkey and Syria in February, which resulted in the death of approximately 58,000 people. The total damage amounted to about 50 billion dollars, but only 5.5 billion dollars were insured.
In total, 74,000 people lost their lives due to natural disasters last year. In comparison, the number was 11,400 the previous year, and the ten-year average was 11,700.
On the stock exchange, the Munich Re share reacted to the publication of the report with a temporary decrease of 0.37 percent to 381.60 euros in XETRA trading.
