5 Biggest Life Markets in the World, Now

The United States still has the biggest life insurance and annuity market in the world, and, in 2021, it was one of the faster-growing large markets. The Swiss Re Institute, a research arm of Swiss Re, has posted country-by-country premium data, expressed both in U.S. dollars and in local currencies, in its latest world insurance report. Researchers at the Zurich-based reinsurer estimate that the world's life insurance and annuity premium volume increased 9.9%, in terms of U.S. dollars, between 2020 and 2021, to $3 trillion. That amounted to an average of $382 in premiums for each of the world's 7.8 billion people. Customers spent 3% of the world's $99 trillion in gross domestic product on life and annuity premiums. (Photo: NASA)