Global life and health insurance: 2021 to offer respite after COVID-19 hit this year
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Life and health insurance will be hit by COVID-19 in 2020 but the recovery should be swift as consumers seek more protection-type life and health insurance.
Key takeaways
- Global life and health insurance premiums are expected to contract 2.9% to USD 4.2 trillion this year but recover swiftly to 3.2% growth in 2021.
- We estimate that COVID-19 will cut life and traditional health premiums (excluding medical cover) by 8ppt globally to fall by 4.4% in real terms this year.
- Protection-type insurance products should be more resilient to the COVID-19 hit than savings business, which typically suffers during downturns.
- Heightened health risk awareness and normalising financial market conditions should drive the rebound.
- We continue to expect manageable life and health claims, partly due to typically lower mortality rates in the insured vs general population.
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