Natural Disasters to Cause $151 Billion in Annual Insurer Losses

Urban expansion, property exposure and climate change could fuel a 40% increase in annual natural-catastrophe losses for the global insurance industry, according to a new report.

The annual loss could rise to $151 billion from the average annual loss of $106 billion reported over the past five years, according to the analysis by Verisk, a risk modeling firm. Of the projected $151 billion in losses, $119 billion are not related to crop damage.

“Although the largest single event is anticipated from a hurricane or an earthquake, severe convective storms, extra tropical storms, wildfires and floods are a significant part of ...