In 2017, natural and man-made disasters caused $306 billion of economic losses across the world, according to estimates from insurance company Swiss Re. That represents a 63 percent increase on last year and is far higher than the average over the past ten years. Insured losses came to $136 billion, which is more than double the amount in 2016 and the third-highest on record. Despite the soaring cost of disasters, there was no noticeable increase in fatalities. Around 11,000 people died or went missing in disasters this year, similar to the number in 2016.

Extreme weather in the Americas in the second half of 2017 was the driving force behind the accumulation of economic and insured losses. Three hurricanes – Harvey, Irma and Maria – hit the United States and Caribbean while wildfires are continuing to cause immense damage in California. Those three hurricanes alone caused an estimated $93 billion of insured losses. Outside the U.S., two powerful earthquakes struck Tehuantepec and Puebla in Mexico in mid-September, causing heavy loss of life and over $2 billion in insured losses. Tropical Cyclone Debbie also wreaked havoc in Australia, leading to $1.3 billion of insured losses in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.

Economic losses from disasters reached their zenith in 2011 at $440 billion, the year Japan was devastated by the  Tōhoku earthquake and tsumani which led to the Fukushima disaster. 2008 was another brutal year which saw Cyclone Nargis kill more than 135,000 people in Myanmar, swiftly followed by an earthquake in China’s Sichuan province that left 70,000 dead. That year, economic losses came to just under $300 billion.

*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)