Insured losses covered only 40 percent of the world’s total economic losses from all disasters, including natural and man-made events, according to Swiss Re’s sigma study released Wednesday.
Global insured losses totaled $37 billion in 2015, well below the previous 10-year average of $62 billion.
“The relatively low level of losses was largely due to another benign hurricane season in the US,” said Swiss Re in the report. Last year was the tenth year in a row without a major hurricane finding landfall in the US.
North America had more insured losses than any other region at $17 billion. A mid-February winter storm that hit the Northeast was the biggest event causing an estimated $2 billion in damages.
Out of 353 disasters recorded in 2015, 198 were natural catastrophes, which accounted for $80 billion of the $92 billion total in economic losses.
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