According to the 2021 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight, published by Aon, the number of significant natural disasters during 2021 caused more than $343 billion in economic damage.
Despite the broad range of natural disasters the world faced including hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes and typhoons the report revealed that flooding was the single biggest extreme weather peril by economic loss, and the flooding in Europe during July was the costliest on record.
Other key findings from the report include:
- 401 notable disaster events were recorded in 2021, down from 416 in 2020
- There were 50 instances of billion-dollar economic loss events, the fourth highest year on record, with only 20 of the events reaching the billion-dollar insured threshold
- European floods in July were the costliest disaster on record for the continent at $46 billion
- Wildfires increased in prominence as conditions have become more conducive for rapid fire spread, with the term “fire season” becoming officially outdated as the risk of dangerous wildfires is prevalent during the full calendar year
- Germany, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg and China recorded the costliest insurance industry events on record
- 2021 was the world’s sixth-warmest year on record with land and ocean temperatures at 0.84°C (1.51°F) above the 20th-century average
- The hottest temperature ever reliably measured on Earth was unofficially recorded in Death Valley, California, United States on July 9, 2021 at 54.4°C (130.0°F)
Visit Aon for a more detailed breakdown or to obtain the full report: https://www.aon.com/weather-climate-catastrophe/index.aspx
