Insured losses from natural catastrophes worldwide in the first half of 2024 rose 3.3% to $62 billion, according to a report Wednesday from Munich Reinsurance Co.
First-half losses were also well above the 10-year average of $37 billion, the report said.
The costliest first-half natural disaster was an earthquake in Japan on New Year’s Day with a magnitude of 7.5 that hit the nation’s western coast, near the Noto Peninsula, causing an estimated $2 billion in insured damages.
Severe thunderstorms, flooding and forest fires – so-called “nonpeak perils” – caused 76% of insured losses.
In the United States, severe thunderstorms drove losses for the first half of the year, the report said. From January to June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported 1,250 tornadoes, substantially more than the long-term average of 820.
First-half 2024 insured losses caused by thunderstorms in the U.S. slipped 15% to $34 billion. In 2023, overall economic losses for the first half year were approximately $52 billion, $40 billion of which was insured.
“Weather-related natural disasters, especially in North America, are prominent once again in the loss statistics for the first half year,” Thomas Blunck, a member of Munich Re’s board of management, said in the report.
