Facts + Statistics: Life insurance

Life insurance ownership

According to the 2023 Insurance Barometer Study, conducted by LIMRA and Life Happens, a record-high proportion of consumers (39 percent) said they intend to purchase life insurance within the next year. The proportion is higher for Gen Z adults (44 percent) and millennials (50 percent). This year’s study looked at the growing market for life insurance market for single mothers. In looking at parents in general, the study found that parent of minor children were more likely to than the general population to own life insurance (59 percent versus 52 percent). The same group were also more likely to acknowledge they do not have enough coverage (47 percent versus 41 percent).

Life/Annuity Sector

Traditional life insurance is no longer the primary business of many companies in the life insurance industry. The emphasis has shifted to underwriting annuities, which accounted for 48 percent of life/annuity direct premiums written in 2022. Annuities are contracts that accumulate funds or pay out a fixed or variable income stream. The income stream can be for a set period or over the lifetime of the contract holder or beneficiaries. Accident and health insurance, which includes distinctive products apart from traditional health insurance, account for 26 percent of direct premiums written. In addition to annuities, accident and health, and life insurance products, life insurers may offer financial services such as asset management.

Traditional health insurance, which is not included in this section and is not considered a part of the life/annuity sector, is described under Private Health Insurance. Health insurance pays for medical, surgical and hospital services received by the insured, as well as routine and preventive care, usually within a network format. Of the many types of plans available, most include a deductible paid by the insured, and benefits received are tax-free.

Accident and health insurance, a product provided by the life/annuity and property/casualty (P/C) sectors, encompasses a variety of specialty products related to health such as:

  • reimbursement for the time a policyholder spent in a hospital or was disabled;
  • short- and long-term disability based on employment;
  • long-term care; and
  • critical or catastrophic illness insurance.

Accident and health insurance is not meant to replace health insurance. 

Life/Annuity Insurance Income Statement, 2018-2022

($ billions, end of year)

  2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Percent change,
2021-2022 (1)
Revenue            
Life insurance premiums $145.1 $151.0 $143.0 $159.5 $165.1 3.5%
Annuity premiums and deposits 269.7 339.8 294.6 285.8 343.3 20.1
Accident and health premiums 183.1 185.0 183.1 189.2 188.7 -0.3
Credit life and credit accident and health premiums 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.2 0.0
Total premiums, consideration and deposits $603.2 $679.4 $624.1 $637.8 $700.2 9.8%
Net investment income 187.4 186.7 186.0 200.9 199.1 -0.9
Reinsurance allowance 32.0 -29.7 -22.8 8.5 38.2 NA
Separate accounts revenue 37.3 36.8 37.4 41.0 38.4 -6.3
Other income 44.0 48.7 55.0 57.5 58.8 2.3
Total revenue $903.9 $921.9 $881.2 $945.7 $1,034.7 9.4%
Expense            
Benefits 289.5 301.8 313.2 338.4 321.0 -5.1
Surrenders 350.3 339.6 323.3 326.7 348.1 6.6
Increase in reserves 143.3 120.6 107.8 89.8 128.6 43.2
Transfers to separate accounts -89.6 -72.0 -69.2 -75.6 -50.1 -33.7
Commissions 58.3 61.2 60.0 64.5 67.5 4.7
General and administrative expenses 65.9 67.8 66.8 69.4 70.5 1.6
Insurance taxes, licenses and fees 10.7 9.3 11.4 10.1 10.4 3.0
Other expenses 11.3 14.4 6.3 14.8 61.6 316.2
Total expenses $839.7 $842.7 $819.6 $874.0 $957.6 9.6%
Net income            
Policyholder dividends 18.2 18.1 18.0 17.8 19.7 10.7
Net gain from operations before federal income tax 46.0 70.0 39.1 54.0 57.4 6.3
Federal income tax 3.4 9.4 5.2 8.2 8.5 3.7
Net income before capital gains $42.6 $51.6 $33.8 $45.8 $49.0 7.0%
Net realized capital gains (losses) -4.7 -6.9 -10.7 -8.3 -10.8 30.1
Net income $37.9 $44.7 $23.1 $37.5 $38.2 1.9%
Pre-tax operating income 46.0 61.0 39.1 54.0 57.4 6.3
Capital and surplus, end of year 399.9 421.7 441.2 477.5 467.0 -2.2

(1) Calculated from unrounded data.

NA=Not applicable.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Premiums by line

Direct Premiums Written By Line, Life/Annuity Insurance, 2020-2022

($000)

  2020 2021 2022
Lines of insurance Direct premiums
written (1)
Percent
of total 
Direct premiums
written (1)
Percent
of total 
Direct premiums
written (1)
Percent
of total 
Annuities            
Ordinary individual annuities $217,475,954 28.6% $206,548,091 26.9% $237,429,226 28.9%
Group annuities 148,066,084 19.5 163,115,551 21.3 160,156,376 19.5
Total $365,542,038 48.1% $369,663,642 48.2% $397,585,602 48.4%
Accident and health (2)            
Group 139,371,108 18.4 140,591,891 18.3 144,355,085 17.6
Other 63,764,322 8.4 68,034,862 8.9 71,246,227 8.7
Credit 889,583 0.1 725,330 0.1 761,493 0.1
Total $204,025,013 26.9% $209,352,084 27.3% $216,362,804 26.4%
Life            
Ordinary life 149,042,367 19.6 148,026,526 19.3 163,998,690 20.0
Group life 39,744,272 5.2 39,205,456 5.1 41,984,740 5.1
Credit life (group and individual) 810,896 0.1 687,128 0.1 744,296 0.1
Industrial life 74,820 (3) 85,053 (3) 76,881 (3)
Total $189,672,356 25.0% $188,004,163 24.5% $206,804,608 25.2%
All other lines 39 (3) 72 (3) 283 (3)
Total, all lines (4) $759,239,446 100.0% $767,019,961 100.0% $820,753,297 100.0%

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.
(2) Excludes accident and health premiums reported on the property/casualty and health annual statements.
(3) Less than 0.1 percent.
(4) Excludes deposit-type funds.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Credit life insurance

Credit life insurance, a form of decreasing term insurance, protects creditors, such as banks, but the borrower pays the premium. The policy covers the outstanding loan balance if the borrower dies before the loan is repaid. The face value of a policy decreases as the loan balance is paid down until both equal zero. When insured loans are paid off early, the insurer returns the premiums for the remaining term to the policyholder. Credit accident and health, a similar product, provides a monthly income if the borrower becomes disabled. 

Credit Life, And Credit Accident and Health Insurance Direct Premiums Written, 2013-2022

($000)

Year Credit life Credit accident
and health
2013 $977,557 $968,691
2014 961,247 955,261
2015 915,437 910,645
2016 831,283 829,033
2017 807,136 838,004
2018 815,280 857,886
2019 830,040 889,327
2020 684,789 730,712
2021 740,023 762,128
2022 738,955 746,816

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Investments

Life/annuity and P/C insurers are key players in capital markets, with $9.7 trillion in cash and invested assets in 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Life insurance and annuity cash and invested assets totaled $4.7 trillion in 2020, and separate accounts assets and other investments totaled $3.0 trillion. P/C insurer cash and invested assets were $2.0 trillion in 2020.

Because life insurance products are long-term, generally in force for 10 years or longer, payments are predictable. Therefore, life/annuity insurers invest primarily in long-term products. In 2020 life insurers, excluding separate accounts, invested 70 percent of their assets in bonds and 3 percent in corporate stocks. Life insurers invested 13 percent of their assets in mortgage loans on real estate that take seven years or longer to mature. 

Investments, Life/Annuity Insurers, 2020-2022 (1)

($ billions, end of year)

  Amount Percent of total investments
Investment type 2020 2021 2022 2020 2021 2022
Bonds $3,272.1 $3,415.5 $3,497.6 70.24% 69.88% 69.42%
Stocks $117.1 $133.5 $120.5 2.51% 2.73% 2.39%
     Preferred stock  14.6 19.2 16.0 0.31 0.39 0.32
     Common stock  102.5 114.3 104.5 2.20 2.34 2.07
Mortgage loans on real estate $587.2 $625.9 $679.5 12.60% 12.81% 13.49%
     First lien real estate mortgage loans  579.2 617.9 670.2 12.43 12.64 13.30
     Real estate loans less first liens  8.0 8.0 9.3 0.17 0.16 0.18
Real estate $22.6 $22.5 $22.3 0.49% 0.46% 0.44%
     Occupied properties  6.1 5.8 5.5 0.13 0.12 0.11
     Income generating properties  16.0 16.3 16.5 0.34 0.33 0.33
     Properties for sale  0.6 0.4 0.3 0.01 0.01 0.01
Cash, cash equivalent and short term investments  151.0 143.6 140.7 3.24 2.94 2.79
Contract loans including premium notes  130.4 128.7 128.5 2.80 2.63 2.55
Derivatives 121.5 96.6 95.2 2.61 1.98 1.89
Other invested assets  227.4 281.6 308.4 4.88 5.76 6.12
Receivables for securities  7.0 9.0 9.8 0.15 0.18 0.19
Securities lending reinvested collateral assets 16.2 18.8 13.6 0.35 0.38 0.27
Write-ins for invested assets  6.1 11.9 21.8 0.13 0.24 0.43
Total cash and invested assets  $4,658.6 $4,887.7 $5,038.1 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

(1) Data are net admitted assets of life/annuity insurers.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Top 10 Writers Of Life/Annuity Insurance By Direct Premiums Written, 2023

($000)

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written (1) Market share (2)
1 MetLife Inc. $91,284,133 9.4%
2 Equitable Holdings 84,608,664 8.7
3 Athene Holding Ltd. 47,261,675 4.9
4 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. 46,179,680 4.8
5 New York Life Insurance Group 43,461,102 4.5
6 Prudential Financial Inc. 37,900,707 3.9
7 Nationwide 37,566,246 3.9
8 Western & Southern Financial 32,704,002 3.4
9 Corebridge Financial 32,107,669 3.3
10 Great West 27,969,037 2.9

(1) Includes life insurance, annuity considerations, deposit-type contract funds and other considerations; excludes accident and health insurance. Before reinsurance transactions.
(2) Based on U.S. total, excluding territories.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Top 10 Writers Of Individual Life Insurance By Direct Premiums Written, 2023

($000)

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written (1) Market share (2)
1 Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. $13,016,168  8.6%
2 New York Life Insurance Group 9,488,774 6.3 
3 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. 8,933,121 5.9 
4 Prudential Financial Inc. 7,199,885 4.8 
5 Lincoln National Corp. 6,553,745 4.4 
6 State Farm 5,701,050 3.8 
7 Transamerica 4,908,439 3.3 
8 John Hancock Life Insurance Co. 4,777,569 3.2 
9 Pacific Life 4,578,316 3.0 
10 Protective 4,356,796 2.9 

(1) Before reinsurance transactions. Based on U.S. total, includes territories. Excludes annuities, accident and health, deposit-type contract funds and other considerations.
(2) Based on U.S. total, excluding territories.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Top 10 Writers Of Group Life Insurance By Direct Premiums Written, 2023

($000)

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written (1) Market share (2)
1 MetLife Inc. $8,962,478  22.5%
2 New York Life Insurance Group 3,683,323 9.2 
3 Prudential Financial Inc. 3,652,745 9.2 
4 Securian Financial Group 2,895,928 7.3 
5 Nationwide Mutual Group 2,318,805 5.8 
6 Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co. 2,252,138 5.7 
7 Unum Group 1,743,379 4.4 
8 Lincoln National Corp. 1,643,538 4.1 
9 Standard Life & Casualty Insurance Co. 1,172,829 2.9 
10 Sun Life Financial 853,485 2.1 

(1) Before reinsurance transactions. Based on U.S. total, includes territories. Excludes annuities, accident and health, deposit-type contract funds and other considerations.
(2) Based on U.S. total, excluding territories.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Top 10 Writers of Life Insurance Deposit Type Contracts by Direct Premiums Written, 2023

($000)

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written Market share (1)
1 MetLife Inc. $70,478,909 25.2%
2 Equitable Holdings 63,186,478 22.6
3 Great West 24,103,829 8.6
4 Western & Southern Financial 22,434,528 8.0
5 Principal Financial Group Inc. 16,813,194 6.0
6 New York Life Insurance Group 12,330,864 4.4
7 Nationwide 11,121,357 4.0
8 Guardian 5,659,748 2.0
9 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. 5,564,758 2.0
10 Tokio Marine 5,375,000 1.9

(1) Based on U.S. total, excluding territories.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

Top 10 Writers of Life Insurance Other Considerations by Direct Premiums Written, 2023

($000)

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written Market share (1)
1 John Hancock $16,597,435 27.6%
2 Transamerica 11,542,682 19.2
3 Prudential Financial Inc. 8,475,462 14.1
4 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. 4,018,534 6.7
5 Standard 3,684,307 6.1
6 Great West 3,268,075 5.4
7 Securian 2,789,377 4.6
8 New York Life Insurance Group 2,497,490 4.2
9 MetLife Inc. 2,434,886 4.1
10 Mutual of America Life Ins Co. 1,696,772 2.8

(1) Based on U.S. total, excluding territories.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

Top 10 Writers of Accident and Health Insurance by Direct Premiums Written, 2023

($000)

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written Market share (1)
1 CVS Health Corp. $48,625,381 21.9%
2 Unitedhealth group 45,006,609 20.3
3 Cigna 27,530,119 12.4
4 MetLife Inc. 9,924,846 4.5
5 Unum Group 6,826,651 3.1
6 Mutual of Omaha 5,753,849 2.6
7 Aflac 5,104,440 2.3
8 Guardian 4,886,023 2.2
9 Sun Life Financial 4,112,005 1.9
10 Hartford Line & Accident Insurance Co. 3,873,526 1.7

(1) Based on U.S. total, excluding territories.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

Distribution channels

Independent agents control more than half of the individual life insurance market. From 2013 to 2022, independent insurance agents’ share of the personal life insurance market grew from 45 percent to 52 percent. The direct response channel remained the same over this period, at 6 percent. As shown in the chart below, affiliated agents have lost some ground, falling from 43 percent to 38 percent.

 

 

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Online sales

According to LIMRA’s 2021 Insurance Barometer Study, there has been a substantial consumer shift in favor of online life insurance shopping and purchasing because of technological advances and the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer preference for online life insurance shopping increased 29 percent since 2016 when online purchasing was first added as an option to the study.

Other sales channels

Worksite marketing is the selling of voluntary (employee-paid) insurance and financial products at the worksite. The products may be sold individually or in groups, and policyholders usually pay premiums through periodic payroll deductions. Worksite sales of life and health insurance totaled $8.75 billion in 2022, up from $8.3 billion in 2021, according to Eastbridge Consulting Group.

 

 

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Separate Accounts

Separate accounts, funds maintained separately from an insurer's general assets, contribute to the revenue of life/annuity insurers. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, separate accounts were originally established in response to federal securities laws concerning investment-linked variable annuities. Variable annuities operate like mutual funds, with earnings that vary based on the annuities' investments. After evolving rapidly in the past 20 years, separate accounts now support an array of hybrid investment products. (See Life/Annuity Insurance Income Statement chart above). 

In 2021 separate accounts contributed $41 billion to the overall life/annuity insurance revenue of $945.7 billion.

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