(Westwood, Mass. � March 21, 2005) North American life insurance application activity declined -5.5% in February year-over-year, but jumped +12.6% on a monthly basis compared to this past January, extending a longstanding seasonal trend. The February rebound has been observed for five consecutive years at an average annual increase of +15.2%. North American year-to-date averages were pushed lower based on February declines to -2.5%.
The U.S. MIB Life Indexsm declined -5.5% year-over-year, with monthly activity increasing +12.8% versus January 2005. Year-to-date levels were -2.5% below the same period 2004. Application volume by age demographic were mixed with the 60+ age group up +1.0%, and ages 0-44 and 45-59 declining -6.7%
and -5.2% respectively, year-over-year.
Canadian applications were off -5.3% year-over-year, with monthly activity increasing +11.4% versus January 2005. Year-to-date levels were -2.4% below the same period 2004. Application volume by age demographic declined across all three age groups: age 0-44 off -5.7%, age 45-59 off -5.3%, and age
60+ off -2.4%.
| Monthly Percent Change vs. 2004 | |||
| US | Canada | Total | |
| February 2005 | -5.5% | -5.3% | -5.5% |
| January 2005 | +0.9% | +0.8% | +0.9% |
| YTD 2005 | -2.5% | -2.4% | -2.5% |
| Monthly Percent Change vs Previous Month | |||
| US | Canada | Total | |
| February 2005 | +12.8% | +11.4% | +12.6% |
About the MIB Life Index
The MIB Life Index is the life insurance industry’s timeliest measure of application activity across the U.S. Released to the media each month, the Index is based on the number of searches life member company underwriters perform on the MIB Checking Service database. Since the vast majority of individually underwritten life premium dollars in North America include an MIB search as a routine underwriting requirement, the MIB Life Index provides a reasonable means to estimate new business activity.
About MIB
MIB is the life and health insurance industry’s most trusted resource for risk information and analytical services. Owned by the industry it has served for more than a century, MIB is uniquely positioned to aggregate industry insights in order to develop products and services for our members that improve their risk management decisions. MIB, Inc. and MIB Solutions, Inc. are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the MIB Group, Inc. Visit www.mib.com.
