Natural and man made disasters have caused economic losses of $155bn and claimed over 11,000 lives in 2018, according to new estimates from Swiss Re, the insurance company.
The world has been hit by a large number of catastrophes this year, from an earthquake in Indonesia to typhoons in Asia and wildfires in California.
Swiss Re says that the insurance industry will shoulder $79bn of the losses, making 2018 the fourth most expensive year on record.
The year will be more costly than the ten year average, but will not be as expensive for insurers as 2017, when Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria contributed to $150bn of insured losses.
Swiss Re points out that losses in the two years were driven by similar causes.
In a statement, the insurer said: “The losses from the 2018 series of events highlight the increasing vulnerability of the ever-growing concentration of humans and property values on coastlines and in the urban-wildlife interface. The very presence of human and property assets in areas such as these means extreme weather conditions can quickly turn into catastrophe events in terms of losses inflicted.”
The big question facing the industry now is what impact those losses will have on prices for insurance in 2019. Reinsurers are in the middle of negotiating their 1 January contract renewals with their customers, and there are signs of rates increasing in some parts of the market.