9/11 and Insurance: The Eight Year Anniversary - Insurers Paid Out Nearly $40 Billion
September 10, 2009
I.I.I. Has Facts and Statistics Available Regarding Terrorist Attacks and Insured Property Losses
I
NSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE
New York Press Office:
(212) 346-5500; media@iii.org
Washington Press Office:
(202) 833-1580
NEW YORK, September 10, 2009 — The Insurance
Information Institute (I.I.I.) has experts available to discuss the
insurance implications of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the
challenges insurers and their policyholders have faced eight years
later.
The 9/11 attack produced insured losses of $39.5 billion (adjusted
to 2008 dollars), including property, business interruption, aviation,
workers compensation, life and liability insurance claim costs as shown
in the graph below:
A total of 2,976 people perished in the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania,
excluding the 19 hijackers. It was the worst terrorist attack on record
in terms of fatalities and insured property losses, which totaled about
$23 billion (in 2008 dollars).
graph-Sept 11 industry loss estimates (2008)
($B, Adjusted to 2008 Price Level)
(1) Estimated September 11 industry loss at 2001 price level is $32.5 billion.
Source: Insurance Information Institute.
“9/11 was the largest loss in the history of insurance until
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when insurers paid claims totaling more than
$40 billion to help people along the Gulf coast rebuild their homes and
businesses,” said Robert P. Hartwig, the I.I.I. president and an
economist. “Insurance claim dollars are playing an essential role in
rebuilding Lower Manhattan.
The Insurance Information Institute has two reports online regarding terrorism and insurance: Terrorism Risk and Insurance, an Issue Update paper that is updated regularly; and 9/11 and Insurance: The Five Year Anniversary, a paper issued in September 2006.
