Aon unveils Q1 2023 global catastrophe report

Aon has released its Q1 Global Catastrophe Recap Report, which provides a preliminary estimate of global natural disaster losses for the first quarter of 2023.

Aon said that its preliminary estimate of global natural disaster losses for the first quarter of 2023 was well above the average when compared to the 21st Century baseline ($53 billion) and significantly higher than the median ($38 billion), which is not skewed by the record year of 2011.

According to the report, as of mid-April, total economic losses in Q1 of 2023 are estimated to reach at least $63 billion. These totals are largely driven by the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria with approximately $39.1 billion; it is worth noting that this is based on an estimate of direct physical damage released in a rapid damage assessment report by the World Bank in late February.

However, Aon said that the final toll might eventually be significantly higher, as the entire amount of actual physical damage will likely not be settled for months to come.

“Global losses to private and public insurance entities ($15 billion) are currently estimated to be close to both average and median of the last 10 years,” said Aon. “Nevertheless, potential loss development is likely to increase the total further. It was also by far the deadliest first quarter since 2010, when a destructive earthquake in Haiti resulted in approximately 160,000 fatalities.”