Global insured losses reach $34bn for H1 2022, finds Munich Re

Natural disasters caused overall losses of US$65 billion, with slightly more than half of these insured (US$34 billion), according to  Munich Re’s Natural Disaster Review for the first half of 2022.

The first half of this year witnessed lower natural disaster losses than in the same period for 2021. Floods, earthquakes and storms caused overall losses of around US$65 billion compared with US$105 billion in loss-heavy 2021. But at around US$ 34bn, insured losses were roughly in line with previous years.

The main loss burden for the global insurance industry came from extreme multi-day rainfall and severe flooding in Australia, which caused insured losses of at least US$3.7 billion. Record flood losses in Australia failed to push global loss amounts above average, the reinsurer said. But while overall losses in H1 2022 were lower than for H1 2021, disasters in the US contributed to a high proportion of insured losses.

The US accounted for almost half of overall losses in the first six months of 2022 at around US$28 billion. Nearly two-thirds of this figure were insured losses, accounting for US$19 billion.

The review pointed to a series of severe thunderstorms with tornadoes as the principal cause of these losses. A single thunderstorm front that produced tornadoes in early April destroyed assets worth more than US$3 billion, three-quarters of which were insured.  Munich Re called this “a perfect example” of how high insurance density can help absorb the economic shocks of natural disasters. In the first half of the year, severe thunderstorms in the US caused losses totalling US$22 billion, with insured losses of US$17 billion.

Munich Re said that “once again” the US was the country with highest weather-related losses.

Globally, the number of fatalities from natural disasters increased to 4,300 compared with the first half of 2021.

Torsten Jeworrek, member of  Munich Re's board of management, highlighted the recently published IPCC report that warned insurers will need to adapt their loss models to adequately assess the changing risk.

“Loss prevention is a fundamental component in mitigating the economic effects of climate change. It is therefore extremely worrying that insurance penetration in developing and emerging nations is stagnating at well below 10%, and that even in industrial countries there is much room for improvement,” he said.

Did you get value from this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.