Citizens’ interest increased for home insurance against natural disasterss with the incentive of the reduced ENFIA, according to the estimates of the insurance companies, while increased mobility is also expected due to the mandatory insurance of businesses.

This was mentioned during today’s presentation of the new electronic tool “NatCat Monitor” of the Association of Insurance Companies of Greece (EAEE) and the research on catastrophic events 1993 – 2023.

The research shows an increase in the frequency and severity of catastrophic incidents, as the years go by, while the protection gap in Greece remains significant as, according to the data, only 17% of houses are insured while, as far as businesses are concerned, it is estimated that 200 thousand businesses out of 500 thousand (with at least one employee) are insured. That is, the percentage amounts to 40%.

As mentioned at the event, the Association of Insurance Companies of Greece, for the systematic recording of losses from catastrophic phenomena in Greece to the insured assets, proceeded to create a dashboard of natural disasters Nat – Cat Monitor. It is an interactive and easy-to-use application that provides information on insured property damage from catastrophic events in Greece. It summarizes the data collected by EAEE from the records of insurance companies for 31 incidents of particularly severe disasters during the period 2015 – 2023.

It is noted that the application will be constantly updated with the data of new catastrophic incidents, which will be recorded by the association in the future.

In the meantime, the association also presented a study with data on 51 incidents of particularly severe disasters for the period 1993 – 2023, which were deemed important in terms of the intensity of the phenomenon, so that they could be recorded.

As it turns out, the contribution of private insurance is significant as for these incidents a total of 51,127 losses have been declared to the insurance companies, with a claim amount of 968.5 million euros.

It is clear from the study that the consequences of catastrophic events are now enormous, due to:

– Increased frequency of incidents, either due to climate change (rainfall) or non-climate related incidents (earthquakes)

– Especially of increased severity.

In more detail, in the last 5 years, the consequences of catastrophic incidents have been particularly intense, both in terms of frequency of occurrence and in their severity, regardless of the cause that caused them:

– in terms of residences, an average of 2,145 damages are recorded per year, with a total claim amount of 15.7 million euros each year

– as far as businesses are concerned, an average of 1,514 losses are recorded per year, with a total claim amount of 101.9 million euros each year.

1993 – 2023: Clustering of incidents

Climate-related natural disasters accounted for the largest percentage of recorded losses: 58.7% for the number of losses and 76.9% for the claim amount.

In terms of average damage by cause, wildfire is the hardest-hit cause of natural disaster, and average wildfire damage is twice the corresponding average flood damage.

It is noted that, since 2014, the recording of natural disaster incidents has been enriched with the distinction of damages by type of insured facility, with a basic division into residences and businesses. The effects on businesses appear clearly greater than on residences, due to the greater magnitude of business risks:

– The average damage to businesses is 7 times greater than the corresponding damage to homes

– especially for the flood, the average damage of businesses is 11.2 times greater than the corresponding damage of residences.

But in wildfire incidents, residences are more vulnerable than businesses. The participation percentage of the claim amount due to forest fire reaches 50.5% for all residences, while the corresponding percentage for businesses is 11.9%.

2014 – 2023: Earthquake

Earthquake events are stable in terms of frequency of occurrence, but, as noted, an average of one major event is recorded each year.

In the last 5 years, the consequences of catastrophic events have been particularly intense, both in terms of frequency and severity, regardless of the cause that caused them. That is:

– in terms of residences, an average of 2,145 damages are recorded per year, with a total claim amount of 15.7 million euros each year

– as far as businesses are concerned, an average of 1,514 losses are recorded per year, with a total claim amount of 101.9 million euros each year.