APAC insured losses reach $11b in 2022: Aon

Australian flooding events were the costliest for insurers with $4b in insured losses.

Insured losses in Asia Pacific reached $11b in 2022, with a third of the losses relating to catastrophes in Australia, a report by Aon revealed

Total economic losses in the APAC region in 2022 reached $80b with a substantial protection gap of 86%. Flood losses continued to maintain dominance as the costliest peril for the third consecutive year, accounting for more than 61% of the loss total. Much of the flood losses in 2022 occurred in South Asia, where the insurance penetration remains very low.

Widespread flooding in Queensland and New South Wales in February and March resulted in $8b of economic and $4b of insured losses. The event thus became the costliest event for the local insurance sector on record on an inflation-adjusted basis.

In Asia, flooding remained a recurring threat with annual losses exceeding $30b every year since 2010. Many places saw record rain and significant flooding in 2022 — Pakistan, India, southern China and South Korea. In particular, the South Asia floods resulted in $19 billion in economic losses and flooding in China contributed another $16b.

Aon said 2022 was the fifth costliest year in history for insurers globally.