World Overview WORLD LIFE AND NONLIFE INSURANCE IN 2013
Outside the United States, the insurance industry is divided into life and nonlife, or general insurance, rather than life/health and property/casualty. World insurance premiums rose 1.4 percent in 2013, adjusted for inflation, following a 2.5 percent inflation-adjusted increase in 2012, according to Swiss Re’s latest study of world insurance. Nonlife premiums rose 2.3 percent in 2013, adjusted for inflation, following 2.7 percent growth in 2012. Life insurance premiums grew by 0.7 percent after inflation in 2013, down from 2.3 percent inflation-adjusted growth in 2012.
In 2013 life and nonlife insurance premiums (excluding cross-border business) accounted for 6.3 percent of world
gross domestic product (GDP). Premiums accounted for 17.6 percent of GDP in Taiwan, the highest share in the
Swiss Re study, followed by 15.4 percent in South Africa, 13.2 percent in Hong Kong, 12.6 percent in the Netherlands
and 11.9 percent in South Korea. Premiums represented 7.5 percent of GDP in the United States, the 10th highest
share in the study.
