Albanians spent less than 16 million euros to insure against disasters in 2022

The strong earthquakes of February 6 in Turkey brought, once again to memory, the high risk of natural disasters.

Albania is a country with high seismic activity and in November 2019 it faced a strong earthquake that caused 51 victims, many injuries and extensive damage to buildings.

The damage bill was estimated at more than 1 billion euros and the vast majority of these damages were covered by the reconstruction program, financed by the state budget and various donors.

According to estimates, insurance companies paid about 40 million euros in damages related to this event. This figure reflects the low level of insurance against natural disasters in Albania. Things haven't changed much since then.

Data from the Financial Supervision Authority show that for 2022, gross written premiums for property catastrophe insurance were worth 1.82 billion lek, or less than 16 million euros.

The average expenditure per capita for property insurance against natural disasters is estimated at less than six euros per capita or less than 21 euros per family. In the vast majority, the contracts are related to the obligation imposed by the commercial banks for the insurance of the properties left as collateral and to the insurances in the business segment.

Instat estimates the total number of families in Albania to be around 765,000, while the most recent data regarding the number of dwellings are those of the 2011 Census, where approximately 1.075 million dwellings were registered.

Although demographic trends have a clear downward trend since the last Census, the number of dwellings is estimated to have undergone a significant increase, especially after the construction boom of recent years, mainly concentrated in the capital and coastal areas.

According to AMF statistics, the total number of property damage insurance accounts (not only for catastrophe insurance) reached 54,000. Regardless of the fact that a good part of the contracts belong to businesses, it can be estimated that currently property insurance covers only 7% of households or 5% of dwellings.

Siguruesit shprehen pesimistë rreth mundësisë për të siguruar një mbulim masiv të popullsisë me sigurim nga katastrofat mbi baza vullnetare. Prej vitesh qeveria shqiptare po shqyrton mundësinë e ngritjes së një skeme kombëtare të sigurimit nga fatkeqësitë, me konsulencën e Bankës Botërore. Deri tani, një skemë e tillë nuk është ngritur dhe në rast të katastrofave shumica e shqiptarëve do të ishin të ekspozuar ndaj një dëmi të madh ekonomik.

Drafti i fundit që iu propozua qeverisë shqiptare në fund të vitit 2019 bazohej në modelin e një skeme të detyrueshme, që do të menaxhohej nga një ent publik, i ngritur posaçërisht për këtë qëllim. Sigurimi i detyrueshëm do të mbulonte vetëm dëmet nga tërmetet dhe primi do të varionte nga 15 deri në 25 euro në vit, në varësi të llojit të ndërtimit.

The proposed scheme was similar to the model applied by Turkey, a country with a very high risk of earthquakes. On the other hand, the insurance companies have expressed against the establishment of a special public scheme for this purpose, demanding that the compulsory insurance be done with private companies, while the risks will be reinsured with foreign reinsurers, according to the principles that are still followed today for this product./ Monitor