Last year delivered some respite from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters, with losses estimated at $US40 billion ($44.46 billion), according to Guy Carpenter’s Catastrophe Review.

“This can be partly attributed to the unusually quiet Atlantic tropical season,” the report says. However, there is “no guarantee” this year’s hurricane season will be similarly mild.

About 47% of last year’s insured losses were reported in the Americas, 31% in Europe and 20% in Asia and Australasia.

The losses were below the 10-year average of $US60 billion ($66.26 billion) and well down on the most significant years of 2005 and 2011, the report says.

In Australia severe floods hit Queensland and NSW, incurring insured losses of about $US1 billion, ($1.11 billion).

Cyclone activity across Asia caused widespread devastation, despite relatively low insured losses.

Super Typhoon Haiyan was possibly the most powerful tropical cyclone recorded making landfall, causing more than 7000 deaths in the Philippines, Guy Carpenter says.

The most costly man-made event was in Wuxi, China, where fire hit a large microchip factory in September. Reports put the cost to the reinsurance sector at $US1.3 billion ($1.44 billion) – the most expensive single-risk loss on record in China.

In Europe 2013 will be remembered as the year of the flood, the report says.

The worst event inundated several central European countries in June, causing estimated insured losses of about $US4.1 billion ($4.55 billion).

In the northwest Pacific Ocean there were 29 named storms, 16 typhoons and seven super typhoons, with an explosive increase in tropical cyclone activity in the northern autumn.

North America also experienced a year of flood, with “notable events” in Alberta, Toronto and Colorado. Canada suffered its most expensive insured catastrophe loss year on record after floods in Alberta caused insured losses of about $US2 billion ($2.22 billion).

Despite a quiet US tornado season, there were a handful of severe outbreaks, especially in May, when a storm in Oklahoma led to insured losses of $US1.8 billion ($2 billion).