Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Moody's - Climate Risk Insurers series
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • January 2018
01

Insured losses from weather disasters more than doubled in 2017

Open-access content Wednesday 24th January 2018 — updated 5.50pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Weather disasters resulted in $134bn (£95bn) of insured losses in 2017 – 139% more than the $56bn recorded the previous year, according to a new report from Aon Benfield.

2

This is just short of the record $137bn of losses incurred in 2011, and was largely thanks to high insurance penetration in the US, which suffered heavily from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

Some 36% of the economic damage sustained from these three events was covered by insurance, costing the industry $80bn, while wildfires resulted in $14bn of losses - the highest ever on record.

However, Aon Benfield CEO, Eric Andersen, said: "While 2017 was an expensive year for the insurance industry, the reinsurance market had an estimated $600bn in available capital to withstand the high volume of payouts.

"Most critically, the US weather and wildfire events in particular have demonstrated the value of reinsurance, with claims being paid in an average of eight days to augment the recovery process."

The report shows that 2017 was the costliest year ever for weather disasters, with 320 events generating total economic losses of $344bn - 93% higher than the 2000-2016 average.

It was also found that there were 31 billion-dollar events that occurred, with 16 in the US alone, while natural disasters resulted in a total of 10,000 human fatalities last year.

This coincided with 2017 being the third warmest year on record since 1880 for combined land and ocean temperatures.

"We continue to face increasing levels of risk as more people and exposures are located in areas that are particularly vulnerable to major, naturally occurring events," Aon Benfield meteorologist, Steve Bowen, said.

"As weather scenarios grow more volatile in their size and potential impact, it becomes more imperative than ever to identify ways to increase awareness, improve communication, and lower the insurance protection gap.

"We know natural disasters are going to occur, the question is how prepared are we going to be when the next one strikes."


Sign up to our free newsletter here and receive a weekly roundup of news concerning the actuarial profession

This article appeared in our January 2018 issue of The Actuary .
Click here to view this issue

You may also be interested in...

2

DC pension scheme membership increases by 400%

Membership of defined contribution (DC) pension schemes in the UK increased by 29% over the last year and by more than 400% since the start of 2010.
Thursday 25th January 2018
Open-access content
2

Retirement wealth seen as a bigger worry than health

More people are concerned about their wealth in retirement than they are about staying fit when they are older, according to research released today by Aegon.
Tuesday 23rd January 2018
Open-access content
2

Global CEOs rank UK as fourth most important country for business growth

The UK is considered the fourth most important country in the world for business growth, behind only the US, China and Germany, according to a survey of CEOs by PwC.
Monday 22nd January 2018
Open-access content
2

Car insurance premiums rise by 8%

Car insurance policies in the UK are an average of £60 more expensive now than they were 12 months ago, according to research by Confused.com and Willis Towers Watson (WLTW).
Monday 22nd January 2018
Open-access content
2

Financial sector optimism continues to fall

Optimism in the UK's financial services sector fell for a third consecutive quarter in the final three months of 2017, rounding off two years of continuous flat or worsening sentiment.
Monday 29th January 2018
Open-access content
2

World's largest non-governmental climate insurance programme launched

A new climate insurance programme designed to increase access to finance and provide disaster recovery lending to some of the world’s poorest people was launched today.
Thursday 18th January 2018
Open-access content
Filed in
01
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Reserving Analyst

London (City of)
Negotiable
Reference
149485

Senior GI Modeler - Capital and Planning

London (Central)
£ excellent
Reference
149436

Risk Oversight Manager

Flexible / hybrid with a minimum of 2 days per week office-based
£ excellent
Reference
149435
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2023 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ