According to data sent out by LIMRA this week, only 39% of U.S. households recall having an opportunity to buy life insurance in the past two years.
Single people were especially neglected. Only 26% could remember having the opportunity to buy, compared to 74% of married people. Yet, the single people reported being almost as likely to buy life insurance as people in married households (51% versus 58%).
Married or unmarried, the larger factor determining whether a household purchases coverage appears to be the presence of children under 18 in the household. Almost half of buyers have children living with them, compared to 38% of nonbuyers.
The numbers lend support to earlier LIMRA research that found single mothers to be a largely untapped market for life insurance. One-third of single mothers who are the primary wage earners in their families had no life insurance coverage at all. Among those who did have coverage, two-thirds thought their families would only be able to cover living expenses for a few months if they were to die.
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