The world's life and health insurance markets are proving remarkably durable despite a backdrop of geopolitical upheaval, trade disruption and renewed inflationary pressure.
According to the Allianz Global Insurance Report 2026, which charts a decade of structural change across the global premium landscape, life insurance premiums climbed 6.9% globally in 2025 to reach approximately 2.9 trillion Euros (US$3.2 trillion), a solid result by historical standards even as the pace came off the exceptional 11.3% recorded the year before.
The cooling was driven primarily by North America, where a rush by households to lock in higher interest rates through annuity products has begun to run its course. Growth leadership has shifted back toward Asia, though the US retains an unrivaled position in the global market overall.
North America's dominance in life insurance is more nuanced than raw market share suggests. The region accounts for roughly 28% of global life premiums, but penetration sits at just 2.8% of GDP, partly because employer-sponsored retirement vehicles such as 401(k) plans reduce household reliance on individual life products.
That dynamic has historically capped penetration relative to markets where private life insurance carries more of the retirement savings burden. With elevated interest rates continuing to support annuity and savings product demand, the near-term environment remains constructive even as the post-pandemic annuity boom cools.
For retirement planners and wealth advisors, the longer arc of the life market matters as much as the current cycle. Ultra-low interest rates suppressed global life penetration from above 4% of GDP two decades ago to a trough well below that level.
The recovery to 3.0% of GDP in 2025 remains incomplete relative to historical norms, but the direction has shifted, and Allianz projects life premiums to grow at a compound annual rate of 4.9% through 2036, supported by elevated rates and structurally rising retirement needs.
Health insurance is the segment drawing the most immediate attention. Global health premiums rose 12.3% in 2025 to approximately 1.7 trillion Euros (US$1.9 trillion), the strongest expansion since 2014 and a rate that outpaced both life and property and casualty by a considerable margin.
North America was the primary engine, with medical inflation pushing regional health premium growth to 14.9%. The US continues to account for more than 70% of worldwide health premiums; a degree of concentration that underscores how heavily exposed American households and employers remain to healthcare cost escalation.
But while rising medical costs are expanding the premium pool, they are also compressing household budgets and pushing coverage decisions into sharper focus for advisors working with individual and small-business clients.
Health insurance is projected to remain the fastest-growing global segment through 2036, with annual growth of 6.7% expected as medical cost inflation persists, demand for private coverage deepens and public healthcare systems in multiple markets face mounting fiscal pressure.
For US clients specifically, the affordability dimension is increasingly unavoidable, and it extends well beyond premiums. Homeowners' insurance premiums rose 38% between 2019 and 2024, roughly twice the rate of general inflation, as climate-related claims severity pushed property carriers to reprice aggressively.
The Allianz report identifies this as a structural rather than cyclical dynamic, with insured natural catastrophe losses rising at 5% to 7% annually in real terms.
But the problem for American homeowners runs deeper than premium levels alone. An analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that the five largest home insurers (State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, USAA and Farmers Insurance) as a group declined to pay out on more than 44% of claims resolved last year, up from 36% a decade earlier.
The Journal says that insurers have responded to years of post-pandemic losses by tightening claims criteria, raising deductibles and shifting certain deductibles from fixed dollar amounts to percentages of home values. Consumers facing higher premiums have themselves opted for higher deductibles to reduce costs, which the Journal noted sets them up for disappointment when claims are filed.
Representatives of the top five insurers told the Journal they investigate all claims and ensure amounts owed are paid promptly, fairly and fully and a USAA spokesman said the analysis was misleading without context around why claims are closed without payment, including losses below a deductible or claims not pursued by customers, and said fewer than 6% of USAA claims were actually denied when those factors are considered.
For advisors with clients who have exposure to insurance sector equities, multinational benefit plans or retirement products tied to interest rate trends, the global market structure suggests growth.
The global premium pool is projected to expand by approximately 5.3 trillion Euros (US$5.9 trillion) by 2036, with North America expected to retain its dominant position at roughly 46% of global premiums.
Health and life remain the segments with the most durable tailwinds, anchored by aging demographics, persistent medical cost inflation and the enduring gap between protection need and coverage reality across both developed and developing markets.
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