Between 2017 and 2018, Costa Rica's fire and property casualty rates increased from 18% to 33% and from 29% to 37%, respectively.
The general industry accident rate, which measures the proportion of claims payment expenses to total policy income, also increased in the last two years, from 48% in 2017 to 51% in 2018.
Data from the General Insurance Superintendence (Sugese) detail that during 2018 $139 million were paid for fire policies, and insurance companies disbursed $45 million for accidents and losses, which is equivalent to 33%.
The industry´s share of the GDP also went down, going from 2.3% to 1.9% in 2015, in a context of lower prices and increased accidents.
From a Bulletin by the Superintendent of Insurance of Costa Rica (SUG):
Total premium revenues reached ¢ 564.1 billion ($ 1.052 billion) in 2015, going down by 9%. Only general insurance revenues grew in a form similar to production and in a context of lower prices, as measured by the CPI (Consumer Price Index).
As of July claims for payments totaled $284 million, with personal insurance policies having increased the most.
In the case of personal accident insurance, registered insurance companies reported an increase of 13% between July 2013 and March this year. "...Within this category, those that grew the most were those of health and accident insurance, going from $26 million to $28 million. "
Insurance companies in Costa Rica paid out 19% more in 2011 than the year before on account of damage claims.
Insurers paid out ¢186,960 million ($ 362 million) last year to compensate customers who suffered losses, which is 19% higher than expenditures in 2010.
Fitch Rating's Special Report: "Insurance Industry Costa Rica: End of the State's Monopoly"
Costa Rica's insurance industry had been dominated by a state-owned monopoly until the new Insurance Law of 2008; up to December 2008 it is the largest and fastest growing market in Central America (excluding Panama). Total premiums by the end of 2008 summed $611.5 million, with the region's largest year-on-year growth (19.4%).
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