Swiss Re Institute’s global Mortality Resilience Index, a measure of household financial protection in the event of a breadwinner’s death, reached 44% in 2024. While marginally higher than in 2023, it remains below the level observed a decade earlier. In absolute figures, the mortality protection gap, the difference between needed and available protection, rose to a record USD 432 billion in premium equivalent terms. We find that advanced markets have higher resilience but face weaker structural support for traditional mortality demand. Emerging markets have lower resilience but stronger long-term growth potential. For insurers, the challenge is to expand protection uptake while adapting products and distribution to changing demographic patterns and evolving customer needs. With prudent implementation, AI-driven technology could play an important role in an effective industry response.

Mortality protection is one of the key value propositions of life insurance, helping households sustain their living standards in the event of a breadwinner’s death. Swiss Re Institute’s Mortality Resilience Index finds that the ratio of available protection to protection needed was 44.4% in 2024. This means that households still lack more than half (about 56%) of the assets needed to meet the financial needs of dependent family members. Despite a marginal improvement from 43.6% in 2023, global mortality resilience is still lower than a decade earlier, when it reached 45.6% (see Table 1). This is driven mainly by declines in advanced markets in North America and EMEA, where structural headwinds have weighed on available protection. In emerging markets, mortality resilience has improved gradually, but from a much lower base and remains constrained by rapidly rising protection needs.

Despite improving mortality resilience in 2024, the global mortality protection gap reached a record high of USD 432 billion in nominal terms. Defined as the difference between needed and available protection in premium equivalents,¹ the gap continues to widen in absolute terms because the amount households need to protect keeps increasing. This dynamic is driven by economic development, inflation, higher debt burdens and rising income-replacement needs. The gap has risen in both advanced and emerging markets between 2014 and 2024, by a cumulative 36% and 34%, respectively, in nominal terms.

In advanced markets, mortality resilience remains relatively high at 57% in 2024, but down from 61% in 2014. The protection gap has also continued to rise in nominal terms over the past decade, reaching USD 161 billion in premium equivalent terms in 2024. This reflects slower growth in traditional mortality protection alongside rising protection needs. In the US, mortality resilience declined to 50% and the protection gap widened to almost USD 83 billion, as income replacement needs driven by higher wage and debt growth outpaced life insurance coverage. The UK shows a similar trend, with the Mortality Resilience Index falling from 73% to 58% between 2014 and 2024 and the protection gap almost doubling to USD 7.5 billion. In advanced EMEA more broadly, stagnant or declining social security benefits have also contributed to higher protection gaps.

Standing at 32.6%, mortality resilience in emerging markets has slowly improved but remains well below advanced market levels. The mortality protection gap has widened in nominal terms since 2014, reaching USD 271 billion in 2024, or 63% of the global total. Much of this reflects rising economic development and resulting income replacement needs in emerging Asia-Pacific. China remains a large and still under-protected market. Since 2014, its Mortality Resilience Index has improved by 6.2 percentage points, but the protection gap widened to USD 76 billion in 2024. Across emerging Asia-Pacific more broadly, resilience has improved, supported by expanded life insurance protection and further development of social security systems. In Latin America, mortality resilience increased by 11.6 percentage points between 2014 and 2024, as life insurance coverage to protection need rose from around 25% to 32%.²

Looking ahead, emerging markets have greater potential to narrow their protection gaps. Excluding China, life risk protection premiums (excluding savings) are projected to grow by almost 5% (CAGR) over the next ten years, faster than the 3.5% growth in the previous decade (Figure 1). Insurance penetration remains low (2% in emerging markets versus 4% in advanced markets), and favourable demographics plus rising incomes support long-term expansion. Swiss Re Institute's 2025 Asia Consumer Survey indicated that consumer intent is also higher, as about 60% of emerging APAC respondents said they were interested in buying life protection in the next year, compared with roughly one-third in advanced APAC markets.³ In China, the underlying protection needs remain significant while the growth of protection is slowing. Premiums are expected to grow by less than 3% per year (CAGR) in 2026-2035, much less than the 8.6% (CAGR) in 2016-2025. The moderation in China reflects a maturing market, less favourable demographic tailwinds and a weaker macro backdrop than in the previous decade.

Life risk premium growth is expected to remain modest in advanced markets, reflecting demographic dynamics and a gradual shift in product demand away from traditional mortality protection. As discussed in sigma 4/2025, slower population growth, falling fertility rates and rising life expectancy are reshaping the outlook for life insurance.⁴ In advanced markets, shrinking working-age populations and changing household structures are weakening some of the traditional drivers of mortality protection demand. Single-person households have also become more prevalent. In Japan, for example, they accounted for 34% of all households in the latest data, up from about 20% in 1980, with similar trends visible in the US and Europe. At the same time, the population aged 65 and over in high-income countries is projected to grow by about 35% by 2050.

For insurers, the implication is a broader reshaping of product demand. As people live longer and spend a larger share of life in retirement, demand for retirement income, longevity and health-related solutions is expected to increase. In advanced markets, our analysis suggests these trends are likely to weigh on the long-term growth potential of life protection and savings accumulation products, while creating tailwinds for decumulation business. The ongoing shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pension systems reinforces this trend by increasing households’ needs for private retirement income solutions. This creates scope for insurers to develop solutions that better meet evolving customer needs.

Technology can help reduce some of the frictions that hold back life insurance take-up, particularly around product understanding, complexity and access to advice. Digital platforms, including insurers’ websites, apps and social media channels, can play an important role in improving consumer awareness and making product information easier to access. Our 2025 consumer survey indicated that over 40% of respondents rely on official websites or apps as information sources for product purchase, while 28% use social media pages.⁵ Similar trends have been observed in mature markets such as the US, especially among younger adults.⁶ At the same time, digital tools appear to complement rather than replace human support, as consumers across age groups continue to prefer hybrid models that combine digital engagement with access to an advisor. Yet only 16% of insurers currently offer such integrated capabilities, according to a study of major insurers.⁷

Another area where technology can add value is by reducing knowledge frictions and documentation complexity. Trust and customer satisfaction can be improved when insurers communicate in plain language, simplify policy documentation and engage more actively with both prospective and current policyholders. To facilitate this shift, insurers could tap into communication platforms bolstered with generative AI-enabled tools, including chatbots, to help explain products more clearly, answer routine questions and tailor communication in simpler language.⁸ Insurers globally are beginning to explore such tools as a way to make insurance easier to understand and navigate.^9,10

User satisfaction with AI tools in insurance is relatively high, suggesting that chatbots can help resolve queries and explain products credibly when deployed well. In a recent global consumer survey, 74.5% of users of insurance chatbots reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the interaction.¹¹ Beyond improving customer experience, these tools can also help insurers respond faster, handle higher volumes of routine enquiries and reduce service costs. This matters for protection uptake because long response times, complex documentation and limited access to guidance can all discourage consumers from purchasing cover. Used effectively, AI-enabled tools have the potential to improve both operational efficiency and the customer journey at the point of sale and beyond.

Digital channels can also support greater insurance uptake by improving scale, reach and affordability, especially in markets where traditional distribution is constrained but digital access is present. In Brazil, where bancassurance (banks selling insurance through their own channels) dominates the life insurance market, online platforms are reaching previously underserved populations, particularly lower-income households without access to formal banking services.¹² In Asia, the spread of “super apps” is creating new ecosystems where insurance can be bundled with other services, helping reduce distribution frictions and support smaller-ticket products.¹³ This can make it easier for insurers to extend protection to segments that have traditionally remained uninsured or underinsured.

Consumer trust will remain critical to scaling digital adoption. Swiss Re’s 2025 Global AI Perception Survey found that 70% of consumers are familiar with the use of GenAI in chatbots and other applications, and more than 80% trust insurers to handle their data responsibly with AI tools.¹⁴ But secure data management, transparency and access to human support remain critical for wider adoption.

That said, implementation remains uneven. Many insurers still lack fully integrated digital capabilities, and AI deployment remains limited across the industry. Only a quarter of top 200 insurers have truly digitalised according to ACORD's 2025 study in Digital Maturity.¹⁵ A recent survey looking at 30 of the largest insurers headquartered in North America and Europe highlighted that, only 12 have disclosed at least one AI use case with a tangible business outcome.¹⁶

Technology is not a standalone solution to the mortality protection gap. Used well, it can help insurers narrow knowledge gaps, simplify customer journeys and improve engagement, all of which can support greater protection uptake over time. However, uptake also depends on broader market conditions. Affordability remains a key constraint, as households face pressure on disposable income, while limited insurance awareness can reduce willingness to buy cover. At the same time, low savings, limited financial inclusion, and only partial social protection leave many households more exposed to financial shocks and less able to close the gap through private insurance alone.