Life insurance market penetration rising

About 25 million Filipinos are now covered by life insurance, the Insurance Commission said as it credited for this the “success” of the micro-insurance program that targets low-income households.

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc said that based on estimates by his office, the penetration rate of insurance—measured in terms of the proportion of the population that has life insurance coverage—hit at least 25 percent in 2013.

“Given the estimate that our population is now about 100 million, the latest penetration rate means there are now about 25 million people in this country that have life insurance,” Dooc said.

The number includes only those who purchased insurance from private insurers.  It does not include people whose only form of insurance is the one provided by either the Social Security System (SSS) or the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Dooc said the penetration rate of life insurance last year marked a sustained increase from only 14.08 percent in 2009, 16.33 percent in 2010, 18.29 percent in 2011, and 24.25 percent in 2012.

In the meantime, the penetration rate—measured in terms of the proportion of total premium collection of the life insurance industry to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)—also maintained a rising trend in 2013, he said.

Dooc said this consistently increased from 1.02 percent in 2009, to 1.09 percent in 2010, 1.2 percent in 2011, 1.45 percent in 2012 and 1.89 percent in the first three quarters of 2013.

He said the growing penetration of life insurance was credited largely to the growth of the micro insurance business in the country.