It Figures

$400 Million

Dog bite claims cost the insurance industry $412 million in 2009, an increase of 6.4 percent from 2008. Dog bites account for more than one-third of all homeowners insurance liability claims paid out in 2009, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). An analysis of homeowners insurance data by the I.I.I. found that the average cost of dog bite claims was $24,840 in 2009, up slightly from $24,461 in 2008.

Since 2003, the cost of these claims has risen nearly 30 percent. Additionally, the number of claims increased by 4.8 percent to 16,586 in 2009 from 15,823 in 2008. With more than 50 percent of bites occurring on the dog owner’s property, the issue is a major source of concern for insurers.

More than 4.7 million people in the United States are bitten by dogs annually, and nearly 900,000 of those, half of them children, require medical care, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those injured, 386,000 require treatment in an emergency department and about 16 die.

Topics Claims