Damage from the earthquake in Pakistan was estimated at $5 billion. No figure could yet be put on the damage created by the huge fire in an oil depot near London this month. Of the total losses worldwide, a third was covered by insurance, Swiss Re added.

At $80 billion, insured property losses were higher than ever before. Almost 90 percent of this sum was due to storm and storm-related flood damage.

Hurricane Katrina alone is expected to cost insurers $45 billion. Before 2005, Hurricane Andrew (1992) had been the most expensive catastrophe ever, costing $22 billion, followed by the terrorist attack of Sept. 11 with just under $21 billion (at 2005 prices).

Losses of $70 billion, or about 88 percent of all insured catastrophe losses in 2005, were recorded in the U.S.

In the Gulf of Mexico, hurricane damage to oil platforms and drilling rigs triggered high insurance claims. A further $6 billion, or 8 percent of insured losses, stemmed from Europe, Swiss Re said.

Heavy rains in Switzerland, Germany and Austria caused flooding and landslides in August, with insured property and business interruption losses amounting to $1.9 billion. In Europe, a January winter storm named Erwin cost $1.5 billion, mainly in Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the company reported.

Swiss Re cautioned that the full scale of the catastrophes in 2005 has not yet been fully assessed, but the trend toward very high losses appears to be continuing. This is due at least in part to increasing population densities, higher concentrations of insured values, and construction activity expanding into areas with a high natural-perils exposure.

The ongoing warm phase that has been measurable since the 1990s and the recent high hurricane frequency inspire little hope of this severe weather trend being reversed any time soon, the company concluded.

Swiss Re said, of those killed in disasters, earthquakes claimed over 90,000 lives this year.