CRESTA, an independent insurance industry organisation responsible for maintaining a global standard for risk accumulation zones, has published its 2026 zoning update, covering 140 countries.
The organisation said the latest release incorporates updates to 4,863 low-resolution zones and 247,203 high-resolution zones. The changes follow consultation with the insurance industry and are intended to retain the overall approach used in the previous 2019 update while accounting for changes to administrative boundaries and units around the world.
CRESTA said the 2026 release also expands the geographical coverage of its zoning system. Low- and high-resolution zones have been introduced for Paraguay, Uruguay and Tunisia, while high-resolution zoning is now available for the Philippines. According to CRESTA, these areas were not previously represented in the scheme, making the additions significant in terms of coverage.
The CRESTA zoning system was established by the insurance industry in 1977. CRESTA operates independently and its work is focused on supporting the technical management of natural catastrophe insurance and improving the consistency of insurance data used across international markets.
The organisation’s zones are defined using administrative and postal code boundaries. CRESTA said its low-resolution zones are generally used for accumulation risk analysis and reporting, while high-resolution zones are intended for applications including risk modelling and scenario analysis.
The 2026 datasets are available through CRESTA’s public Mapviewer, alongside historical zoning information. CRESTA said the platform has been updated to provide improved map visualisation and querying capabilities, including a lookup tool that links geographical coordinates with the relevant low- and high-resolution zones.
Users can also access zoning lists and mapping tables covering the 2010, 2013, 2019 and 2026 CRESTA versions. CRESTA said these datasets, including low- and high-resolution zoning lists, are available to download in Excel format.
The organisation has also updated its geodata files, which have been produced by NielsenIQ, formerly known as GfK. CRESTA said the work forms part of its longstanding partnership with the company.
Christoph Oehy, CEO of PERILS, commented: “Keeping CRESTA Zones aligned with the real world is critical to their value as an industry standard. This update reflects the latest changes in demographics and geography, ensuring the insurance industry can continue to rely on a consistent and relevant framework for exposure assessment, reporting and exchange.
“As a globally accepted standard for the exchange of insurance data, CRESTA plays a critical function in increasing the efficiency of the risk transfer industry. Moving forward, CRESTA will continue to enhance the value of the standard for the benefit of the entire market.”
