Raging Storms Pushed Disaster Damages Above $100 Billion in 2023
Insurers’ losses were driven not by a single powerful hurricane but by a string of other weather events, especially thunderstorms.
A car windshield damaged by severe hail during a storm in northern Italy in 2023.
Photographer: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images
Around the world, insured damages inflicted by natural catastrophes are climbing fast and set to double in roughly 10 years, the Swiss Re Institute — the research arm of the giant reinsurance firm — said in a report published Tuesday.
The financial repercussions for policyholders will be painful if the trajectory continues as predicted. “Premiums have to move in line with this risk,” said Jerome Jean Haegeli, Swiss Re’s chief economist and the lead author of the report.