IC: Record-high 53.7 million Filipinos covered by microinsurance in 2021

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MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos covered by inexpensive, short-term microinsurance products rose to a record 53.7 million in 2021, alongside total premiums which exceeded the P10-billion mark for the first time.

The latest Insurance Commission (IC) data on Thursday showed that the number of lives insured by microinsurance policies being sold by life and non-life insurers as well as mutual benefit associations (MBAs) climbed from 50.3 million in 2020.

MBAs’ microinsurance products covered 31.9 million Filipinos; 14.4 million insured by life policies; and 7.4 million by non-life.

The increase in microinsurance coverage came on the back of a 29.8-percent jump in contributions and premiums produced across the three insurance sectors to P10.1 billion last year from P7.8 billion in 2020. To recall, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, microinsurance sales fell 14.5 percent from P9.1 billion in 2019.

All of the sectors selling microinsurance saw their sales grow last year. MBAs’ microinsurance contributions accounted for the bulk of industrywide sales, posting 34.3-percent growth to P5.9 billion from 2020’s P4.5 billion.

Life insurance companies sold P2.9-billion worth of microinsurance policies last year, up 20.7 percent from P2.4 billion in 2020.

Non-life insurance firms also grew their microinsurance premiums by 31.5 percent to P1.2 billion in 2021 from 2020’s P913.5 million.

In 2021, 23 MBAs, 11 life, and 15 non-life insurers offered microinsurance.

The IC had targeted to cover 50 million Filipinos with microinsurance this 2022, but this goal was exceeded as early as 2020.

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