ACLI Finds Fewer Life Insurers, More Life Workers

The number of U.S.-owned life insurers operating in the United States fell 2.1% in 2016, to 797, but total U.S. life insurance industry employment increased.

The home office head count increased 5.5%, to 348,300, which is the highest life insurer home office head count recorded since 2010.

The number of life and health agents, brokers and service personnel increased 2.5%, to 1.1 million.

The number of foreign-owned life insurers operating in the United States jumped 9.3%, to 106, thanks to growth in the number of issuers based in Japan and in the Cayman Islands

The American Council of Life Insurers has included those figures in the first chapter of the ACLI 2017 Fact Book, a 186-page life insurance industry encyclopedia.

A copy of the new fact book is available here.

The ACLI team has included updated on topics such as life insurance company assets, the annuities sector, and life expectancy.

Researchers at the Washington-based trade group get the figures given in the fact book from a wide range of sources, including the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

The ACLI reports, for example, that U.S. life insurers had about $20 trillion in coverage in force in 2017, including $12 trillion in individual life coverage and $8.2 trillion in group life coverage.

Annuity issuers made about $79 billion in annuity payments to annuity holders, and $76 billion in payments to annuity holders' beneficiaries. The annuity holders also surrendered about $268 billion in annuity contract value, thanks in part to annuity withdrawal arrangements.

The number of life insurers organized as policyholder-owned mutuals actually increased, to 113, from 110.

The number of life insurers organized as stock companies fell to 598, from 616.

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