U.S. Life Insurance Application Activity Starts 2024 at Growth
Growth for ages 0-60 and 71+
U.S. life insurance application activity saw growth in January 2024 compared to January 2023, with Year-over-Year (YOY) activity up +4.7%, achieving the highest overall activity for any January on record. When comparing January 2024 to the same month in 2022, activity was up +13.7% and compared to 2021 was up +8.3%. On a Month-over-Month (MOM) basis, January 2024 was up +14.7% compared to December 2023, in a double-digit MOM growth pattern similar to last year in 2023, but outpacing January MOM results in years prior.
For January 2024, ages 0-60 and ages 71+ saw YOY growth and ages 61-70 saw flat activity. January YOY activity for ages 0-30 was up +1.8%, ages 31-50 up +8.6%, ages 51-60 up +1.7%, ages 61-70 flat at +0.6%, and ages 71+ up 5.6%. Worth of noting, ages 31-50 outpaced all other ages groups in YOY growth, representing a shift from patterns seen since October 2023 when ages 71+ led growth.
When examining YOY activity for January 2024 by face amounts, we saw growth for amounts over $250K, in the double digits for amounts over $500K, while amounts up to and including $250K saw declines. When including age bands, ages 0-30 saw YOY growth for amounts over $250K up to and including $5M, in the double digits for amounts over $500K up to and including $5M, and declines for all other amounts, with double-digit declines for amounts over $5M. Ages 31-50 saw growth for amounts over $250K, in the double digits for amounts over $500K, and declines for amounts up to and including $250K. Ages 51-70 saw double-digit growth for amounts over $250K and declines for amounts up to and including $250k. Ages 71+ saw growth across all face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M as well as for amounts over $5M.
January 2024 saw YOY growth in Term Life and Whole Life, and flat activity for Universal Life. Term Life was up +9.7%, Whole Life was up +4.2%, and Universal Life was flat at -0.3%. Term Life saw YOY growth for ages 0-60, in the double digits for ages 31-60, and declining activity for ages 61+, in the double digits for ages 71+. Whole Life saw double-digit YOY growth for ages 61+, flat activity for ages 31-60, and declines for ages 0-30. Universal Life saw flat activity YOY for ages 0-30, growth for ages 31-50 and declines for ages 51+, in the double digits for ages 71+.
