Insurance Industry At A Glance

INSURANCE INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE

• World insurance premiums (life and nonlife) totaled $4.1 trillion in 2007, according to Swiss Re.
• There were 747 mergers and acquisitions in the global insurance industry in 2007, with a reported value of $138 billion, according to Conning Research and Consulting.
• Property/casualty (P/C) insurance net written premiums declined by $2.7 billion, or 0.6 percent in 2007, following a 4.2 percent increase in 2006, according to ISO. The 2007 decline was the first since 1943.
• During the same period, life/health (L/H) insurance premiums written increased by 5.7 percent, based on data from Highline/National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
• There were 2,723 P/C insurance companies and 1,190 L/H insurance companies in the U.S. in 2007. Total P/C cash and invested assets were $1.3 trillion in 2007. L/H cash and invested assets totaled $3 trillion in 2007. The P/C insurance industry's rate of return on a statutory basis dropped from 13.3 percent in 2006 to 11.9 in 2007. The L/H insurance industry's rate of return on a GAAP basis dropped from 12 percent in 2006 to 11 percent in 2007.
• The U.S. P/C industry posted a $19.0 billion net gain on underwriting in 2007, down from $31.1 billion in 2006, reflecting a weakness in premiums and increases in the cost of providing insurance protection, according to ISO.
• Catastrophe losses dropped from $9.5 billion in 2006 to $6.7 billion in 2007. By contrast, losses surged to $25.2 billion in 2008.

PREMIUMS OF PROPERTY/CASUALTY AND LIFE/HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRIES, 1998-2007

($ billions, excludes state funds)

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(1) Includes deposit-type funds beginning in 2001.

Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Annual Statement Database, via Highline Data, LLC. Copyrighted information. No portion of this work may be copied or redistributed without the express written permission of Highline Data, LLC.