Global Disasters Caused Record $144 Billion Insured Losses in 2017
According to the Swiss Re Institute's latest sigma study, global insured losses from disaster events in 2017 totaled $144 billion. The biggest losses came from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, which struck the United States and the Caribbean and resulted in combined insured losses of $92 billion. The report indicates that Harvey caused $30 billion in insured losses, Irma another $30 billion, and Maria $32 billion. In addition, major wildfires across the globe resulted in record combined insurance losses of $14 billion, with the Tubbs fire in California's Sonoma and Napa counties becoming the world's costliest wildfire ever in terms of insured losses at $7.7 billion. Overall, total global economic losses from natural and man-made disasters in 2017 were $337 billion, nearly double that of 2016 and marking the second-highest figure on record.