Life Products Look Great in the 'Emerging Markets': Swiss Re

Life insurers are doing a lot better, on average, in the emerging markets than they are in the United States and other “emerged” markets.

Analysts at Swiss Re’s Swiss Re Institute have published data on the performance gap in their latest world insurance market review.

The world’s total, inflation-adjusted life premium revenue increased just 0.5% in 2017, to the equivalent of about $2.7 trillion, or about 3.3% of the world’s $80 trillion in 2017 gross domestic product, according to institute analysts.

(Related: The World’s 5 Fastest-Growing Life Insurance Markets)

Inflation-adjusted life premium revenue fell 4% in the United States, to $547 billion, and 1.6% in Europe, to $858 billion.

Here’s what happened to inflation-adjusted life premium revenue in some other markets:

• Asia: $1 trillion (Up 5.6%).
• China: $318 billion (Up 21%).
• Indonesia: $19 billion (Up 27%).
• Latin America: $78 billion (Up 1.1%).
• Ecuador: $431 million (Up 24%).
• Africa: $45 billion (Up 0.3%).
• Namibia: $686 million (Up 12%).

A copy of the full report is available here.

Why the Report Matters

Swiss Re is a company that sells reinsurance, or insurance for insurance companies.

Reinsurers’ outlook on an insurance sector affects whether the direct writers in that sector can get reinsurance, how much the direct writers might pay for reinsurance, and, in some cases, whether the direct writers can continue to participate in that sector.

What the Numbers Might Mean

Swiss Re institute analysts say they think property-casualty insurance premium revenue mostly moves up and down with the health of the overall economy.