Q2 2006 – Smallest Decline in Last Three Years
WESTWOOD, Mass., July 31 /PRNewswire/ — North American application activity for individually underwritten life insurance declined -2.2% in June year-over-year, according to the MIB Life Indexsm. Second quarter activity trailed that of Q2 2006 by -1.3%, the smallest year-over-year decline for second quarter activity in the last three years. Year-to-date (YTD) life insurance application activity has declined -3.5% versus same period last year.
U.S. application activity declined -2.7% in June year-over-year, all ages combined. Second quarter activity trailed that of Q2 2006 by -1.6% with declines for the quarter attributable to the 0-44 and 45-59 age groups, -3.3% and -0.3% respectively. Ages 60+ showed a +4.8% increase in activity Q2 2007 over Q2 2006. June’s activity by age group exhibited a similar pattern: ages 0-44 and 45-59 off -4.7% and -1.9% year-over-year, respectively with an increase of +7.0%, ages 60+. YTD, U.S. application activity is -3.5% behind the same six month period 2006.
Canadian application activity was off slightly, down -0.9% in June year- over-year, all ages combined. Canada’s YTD decline in activity of -3.4% is formed by combining Q1’s -7.5% decline versus Q1/2006 with Q2’s slight increase of +0.5%, an often observed seasonal reversal. By age, June activity declined in the 0-44 age group, off -1.6% when compared to June 2006 and increased in the 45-59 and 60+ age groups, up +4.6% and +7.1%, respectively. For the second quarter, ages 45-59 saw the highest percentage increase (+5.7%) compared to Q2 2006 with a decline in the 0-44 ages (-2.0%) and small increase in ages 60+, up +1.8%.
Monthly Percent Change vs. 2006 | |||
U.S. | Canada | Total | |
June 2007 | -2.7% | +0.9% | -2.2% |
May 2007 | -0.2% | -1.5% | -0.4% |
YTD 2007 | -3.5% | -3.4% | -3.5% |
Monthly Percent Change vs. Previous Month | |||
U.S. | Canada | Total | |
June 2007 | -1.9% | -4.3% | -2.2% |
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.