The aim of this paper is to present characteristics of agricultural insurance at the global level. Agricultural insurance is most often seen, in a narrower sense, as crop insurance and livestock insurance. This type of economic protection has been applied since the 18th century, and today it is considered a part of a comprehensive risk management strategy in agricultural production. The most significant differences in agricultural insurance, at the global level, are the risks that can be insured in certain countries, as well as whether, or to what extent, agricultural insurance premiums are subsidized by the state. Agricultural insurance in most countries is voluntary, somewhere it is a condition for exercising the right to agricultural subsidies, and it is mandatory only in Greece and Cyprus.