Insured losses from global natural disasters in the first half of 2014 reached $22bn, down $5bn on last year, according to Aon Benfield's monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report.
Published yesterday, the report said that around 55% of the insured losses occurred in the US incurring an estimated claims payout of $12bn during the period.
Almost a quarter (23%) of insured losses came from Europe, with the region's claims payouts standing at nearly $5bn, while 19% of insured losses occurred in Asia representing $4bn of claims payouts.
Steve Bowen, associate director and meteorologist with Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting team, said: 'Despite some well-documented natural disaster events during the first half of 2014, our data show that losses from both economic and insured perspective were below their recent averages.
'However, a relatively quiet first six months does not mean a similar trend will continue throughout the rest of the year.'
In total, the first half of 2014 saw seven separate billion-dollar insured loss events, with four occurring in the US, two in Europe, and one in Asia.
The two costliest insured events - with claims payouts each reaching in excess of $2.5bn - included a significant stretch of heavy snowfall across Japan in February and a multi-day June event that caused extensive hail damage in France and Germany.
The report said that insured losses sustained from the snow event in Japan marked one of the costliest natural disaster-related events in the country's history.
Also, winter floods in the UK led to claims payouts beyond $1.0bn, the report noted.
The remaining $4bn natural disaster events were in the US and included the January Polar Vortex winter weather event, two stretches of severe springtime weather and the ongoing drought in the West.
