LIMRA: U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Inched Up in First Quarter 2019

On May 30, 2019, LIMRA reported that total U.S. individual life insurance new annualized premium (premium) new annualized premium increased just 1% in first quarter 2019, compared to first quarter 2018, according to LIMRA’s First Quarter 2019 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Survey. The total number of individual life insurance policies sold in the first quarter decreased 3%, compared with the same quarter of the prior year.

The 1Q 2019 highlights include:

• Variable life UL (VUL) new premium grew 12%

• Whole life (WL) new premium growth fell 1%

• Universal Life (UL) new premium was flat

  • Indexed UL (IUL) new premium rose 9%; IUL is 68% of UL premium and 24% of all individual life premium

  • Lifetime guarantee (LTG) UL new premium fell 12%

• Term life insurance new premium rose 2%

For 1Q 2019, the market share by product line is:

• UL 36%

• WL 36%

• Term 22%

• VUL 6%

Please click here to read the article.