Insurance balance: Nature is causing billions in damage – especially in the south

Natural hazards caused billions in Germany last year. Cases alone for property and car insurers add up to 5.7 billion euros, as can be seen from an overview of the overall association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV), which is available to the dpa. That is about as much as in 2023. More than half of it concerned the two South countries Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. There had been severe floods there a year ago.

The entire damage is likely to be significantly higher, since not everything is insured. For the flood last year, there were estimates for Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg that only about half of a total of more than four billion euros were insured.

“Saving and floods alone paid 2.6 billion euros-around one billion euros more than on the long-term average,” says GDV manager Jörg Asmussen in relation to the insured. Here he also sees consequences of climate change that would “increasingly” noticeable in Germany. In contrast, damage caused by storm and hail were lower last year. In the car insurance, the benefits due to natural hazards were around 1.3 billion euros – this corresponds to about the long -term average. There is no differentiation between hail, storm, floods or other causes.

3.2 billion alone in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria

In the comparison of the federal states, Baden-Württemberg with 1.601 billion euros in insured damage is marginal before Bavaria with 1.600 billion. This should also be due to the fact that elementary damage such as floods in the southwest are much more often insured than in the Free State. It is therefore obvious that the highest sum in Bavaria is presumably achieved in the case of the total damage, but there are no figures on this.

The third -highest insured damage hit North Rhine -Westphalia with 613 million euros – here, above all, storm and hail were the cause, as was 313 million. In Hesse there were 252 million, 171 million in Saarland and 166 million each in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxons.

The lowest damage was found in Bremen with 17 million. The other city -states also got away relatively lightly with 39 million euros in the case of Berlin and 67 million in Hamburg. This also applies to the area of ​​Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, from which the second lowest damage was reported with 34 million euros.

Debatte with compulsory insurance

In total, the 5.7 billion euros in damage nationwide are rather high in a long -term comparison. “The numbers speak a clear language: climate compensation must be a priority of the new federal government,” says Asmussen from the GDV. “Compulsory insurance alone prevents no damage. What we need is an overall natural hazard concept that, in addition to an insurance solution, also includes precautionary measures. This is the only way to create long-term security with a view to climate change-for people and for the municipal infrastructure.”

At least the compulsory insurance for residential buildings should come in this legislative period, as Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) said of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “Climate change is progressing, without better insurance coverage it will not work in the future.”