Earnings per share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015
Basic earnings per share
Net income available to Validus common shareholders	$ 89,844	$ 66,650	$ 351,617	$ 305,851
Less: Dividends on outstanding warrants	0	(1,080)	0	(3,566)
Net income allocated to Validus common shareholders	$ 89,844	$ 65,570	$ 351,617	$ 302,285
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding	80,134,394	82,635,316	81,635,496	83,296,703
Basic earnings per share available to common shareholders	$ 1.12	$ 0.79	$ 4.31	$ 3.63
Earnings per diluted share
Net income available to Validus common shareholders	$ 89,844	$ 66,650	$ 351,617	$ 305,851
Less: Dividends on outstanding warrants	0	0	0	0
Net income allocated to Validus common shareholders	$ 89,844	$ 66,650	$ 351,617	$ 305,851
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding	80,134,394	82,635,316	81,635,496	83,296,703
Weighted average number of diluted common shares outstanding	81,244,556	85,629,494	82,938,624	86,841,927
Earnings per diluted share available to common shareholders	$ 1.11	$ 0.78	$ 4.24	$ 3.52
Other details:
Anti-dilutive securities excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per share	19,808	25,237	175,690	218,685
Warrants
Earnings per diluted share
Weighted average number of diluted common shares outstanding, aggregate	0	2,054,378	0	2,290,892
Stock options
Earnings per diluted share
Weighted average number of diluted common shares outstanding, aggregate	26,705	47,702	32,126	190,429
Unvested restricted shares
Earnings per diluted share
Weighted average number of diluted common shares outstanding, aggregate	1,083,457	892,098	1,271,002	1,063,903