(Westwood, Mass. � April 15, 2005) According to the MIB Group, Inc., March applications for individually underwritten life insurance in North America declined -2.3% year-over-year, marking the eighth decline in application activity over the past 12 months. First quarter 2005 results show application activity was off -2.5% for North America, -2.3% in the U.S., and -4.2% in Canada from Q1 2004 levels.
The U.S. MIB Life Indexsm declined -1.6% in March, year-over-year. February-to-March activity increased +3.3%, contrasting with a -0.8% decline for the same two-month period 2004. Applications by age demographic for the first quarter remained stable with past trends: ages 0-44 and 45-59 declined
-3.5% and -1.5% respectively, with continued growth in ages 60+, up +3.2% year-over-year. Compared to 2004/2003 Q1 results, net change for the 0-44 and 45-59 age groups were consistent, but growth in the 60+ age group appears to have moderated from this period�s robust +5.9% increase.
Canadian year-over-year application activity declined sharply in March (-7.0%), with February-to-March activity flat at -0.4%. First quarter 2005 application activity by age demographic declined across all three age groups: ages 0-44, off -4.6%; ages 45-59, off -3.9%; and ages 60+, off -2.1%; in contrast to Q1 2004/2003 levels of -2.0%, +1.8%, and +6.8% respectively.
| Monthly Percent Change vs 2004 | |||
| US | Canada | Total | |
| March 2005 | -1.6% | -7.0% | -2.3% |
| February 2005 | -5.5% | -5.3% | -5.5% |
| Q1 2005 | -2.3% | -4.2% | -2.5% |
| Monthly Percent Change vs Previous Month | |||
| US | Canada | Total | |
| March 2005 | +3.3% | -0.4% | +2.9% |
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.
