Insurance News From Around The World

An except on life insurance markets in 5 countries (“Far From Home: Fast out of the gate in 2013).

#1. India is expected to emerge as the third-largest market for life insurance in the world by 2015, only after China and Japan. At present, India stands 12th among the top markets for life insurance. Life insurance sales in India are expected to reach $111.9 billion in 2015, up from $66.5 billion in 2011, yielding a compounded annual growth rate of 14.1 percent. The number of policies sold is expected to increase to 85.2 million in 2015 from 53.2 million in 2010.

#2. Life insurance sales (in Russia) only account for just 2.3 percent of the total insurance market. Sales are expected to attain $3.3 billion by 2015. Factors depressing the Russian market’s growth include the absence of tax benefits on life insurance products, an inert private pension system and a perception among Russians that life insurance is not a vehicle suitable for building a retirement nest egg.

#3. Brazil is the world’s 17th largest insurance market and the largest in Latin America. Brazil remains nonetheless a largely untapped market for life insurers, with 70 percent of the employed population being uninsured.

#4. China is the world’s sixth-largest life insurance market and the largest life insurance market in the region. By 2020, the Chinese insurance industry is expected to become larger than Japan’s, making it the second largest insurance market in the world, trailing only that of the U.S.

#5. Premium income, in Japan, generated from all products between April and September 2012 totaled $223 billion, representing a 103.7 percent gain over the same period in 2011. New business in Japan has been on the rise since fiscal 2007 due to strong sales of health insurance and whole life insurance. Including sales of whole life insurance by banks.

Warren S. Hersch. “Far From Home.” NU Life and Health. January 2013.