Aon has published its latest catastrophe report, which points to a gaping insurance hole for 2019.
According to the broking giant’s Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight: 2019 Annual Report released today, last year’s 409 natural catastrophe events equated to US$232 billion in economic losses. Of this figure, however, only US$71 billion was covered by insurance – be it government-sponsored programmes or coverage from the private sector.
What this translates to is a whopping 69% global protection gap in 2019. A faint silver lining is the fact that the percentage of uninsured nat cat economic losses in the period, while significant, is the sixth-lowest since 2000.
Costliest disasters
Aon’s catastrophe report for the past year also identified the top disasters in terms of losses.
“At US$82 billion, the inland flood peril was the costliest of 2019, and its highest year since 2013,” noted Aon in its annual review. “Other expensive perils included tropical cyclone, severe weather, drought, and wildfire; all of which generated losses above the median.”
Meanwhile the two costliest insurance events in the 12-month timeframe were Typhoon Hagibis and Typhoon Faxai, which resulted in US$9 billion and US$6 billion in insured losses, respectively. Both occurred in Japan, where each storm tracked through a highly urbanised area.
It was also highlighted that the 2010-2019 span marked the costliest decade on record. Aon said economic losses reached US$2.98 trillion, with private and public insurance entities covering US$845 billion.
