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Christmas is a catastrophe for the world insurance industry on a par with some of the worst natural disasters in recent years, according to a seasonal note from the insurance team at Fox-Pitt, Kelton. Its methodology, based on data published by the Australian National Bureau of Statistics, may be a little suspect, but the team claims it has estimated an average annual figure for all claims, from property damage and business interruptions to 'the mortality cost resulting from accidents with Christmas tree lights and other decorations.'

[the following is edited and paraphrased]

The study includes a table of Christmas accidents since 1996 in Australia. These include six people killed by eating decorations they believed were chocolate and five injuries 'from out-of-control Scalextric cars.' There were also four broken arms 'from cracker pulling incidents', although the team fails to specify whether these were from a single, catastrophic event or separate incidents.

Fox-Pitt, Kelton also takes the trouble to allow for important cultural differences when extrapolating the statistics from Down Under. 'We estimate that Europeans are far more likely to injure themselves trying on Christmas jumpers while smoking given that a) more jumpers are likely to be given as gifts because it's colder and b) Europeans generally smoke more,' the team, led by Bob Yates, says. 'On the other hand, we think it is far less likely that Europeans will die while testing 9v batteries against their tongues than Australians, because they are generally more sensible.'

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