Natural disasters in 2023 caused approximately $250 billion in damages globally, according to a report by Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company.
The report, released on Tuesday, highlights that while global economic losses from natural disasters last year were consistent with the previous year, insured losses dropped to $95 billion from $125 billion in 2022.
Munich Re’s report points out a significant rise in severe regional storms, particularly thunderstorms. In North America, thunderstorms caused about $66 billion in damage, with $50 billion covered by insurance.
Europe faced $10 billion in thunderstorm losses, with $8 billion insured. These figures are unprecedented for both regions, and the company anticipates that losses from these so-called “secondary perils” might increase in the coming years due to the intensifying climate crisis.
Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria led to over 55,000 deaths and $50 billion losses.Despite the lack of mega-disasters like Hurricane Ian in 2022, which had $100 billion in economic losses and $60 billion in insured losses, 2023 still saw extremely high damage costs.
Munich Re’s climate and geoscientist, Ernst Rauch, warned that without a greater focus on resilience, future losses from weather-related events could rise significantly, posing both economic and social challenges.
In terms of fatalities, natural disasters last year caused 74,000 deaths, sharply higher than the average of 10,000 deaths per year over the past five years.
The most devastating event was the series of earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in early February, which resulted in about $50 billion in economic losses and over 55,000 deaths.
This contrasts with an earthquake in Japan earlier in 2024, which, despite being of similar magnitude, resulted in a significantly lower death toll due to stricter building codes and better disaster preparedness.