According to a recent Associated Press article, natural disasters cost insurers $65 billion last year, with the United States accounting for nine-tenths of the bill. The reinsurer Munich Re estimates that Superstorm Sandy was the most costly disaster, with insured losses of $25 billion and total losses of $50 billion, though it cautioned that the figures are "still subject to considerable uncertainty."
The lengthy drought that seared much of the nation last summer produced 2012's second largest insurance bill. Munich Re said the insured losses, which are covered by a public-private crop insurance program, totaled between $15 billion and $17 billion — most of the $20 billion worth of overall crop losses.
Still, world-wide total economic costs from natural disasters, including uninsured losses, were $160 billion in 2012, compared with the previous year's $400 billion.
