Credit: Tadamichi/Adobe Stock
U.S. consumers ages 70 and older rushed to apply for life insurance in the first quarter of 2026: They submitted 46% more applications than in the first quarter of 2025.
Overall application activity was 14% higher than in the year-earlier quarter, according to new application activity data from MIB Group.
The oldest insurance shoppers were especially interested in universal life and in policies with a face amount of $100,000 to $250,000. The shoppers' application activity for those types of policies was more than twice as high in the latest quarter as it was in the year-earlier quarter, MIB reported.
MIB is an insurer-owned organization that helps life insurers share information used in policy underwriting. It bases application activity figures on the number of applications flowing through its underwriting support systems.
What it means: Older consumers could be buying more policies for use in long-term care planning.
But the surge in application activity could also be a sign that older consumers are having children later in life and buying homes later in life and need more insurance to support those activities.
Methods: MIB said it has updated its methods.
One result is that the numbers in new releases cannot be compared directly with the numbers from earlier releases.
Another is that MIB's age bands have changed. In the past, for example, the applicants in the oldest age band were ages 71 and older. Now, the oldest band is for applicants ages 70 and older.
Credit: Tadamichi/Adobe Stock
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.