MIB Life Index: Life Insurance Activity Climbs in May

Application activity in the U.S. for individually underwritten life insurance continued on its positive trajectory in May, up 1.3% year-over-year for all ages combined according to the MIB Life Index.

MIB Group Inc., a Braintree, Mass.-based provider of life and health insurance information published the statistics in their latest monthly MIB Life Index. The index measures the industry's application activity in the U.S., and is based on the number of searches MIB life member company underwriters perform on the MIB Checking Service database.

The index has been showing positive numbers seven of the past eight months after breaking from monthly losses in the fourth quarter of 2011. As the seasonal period of summer stagnation approaches, year-to-date, the MIB Index is up 2.9% when compared to the same five months last year. The index was down 7.8% from April levels but that decline was in synch with historical percentages for this time period.