MIB Life Index Reports U.S. Life Insurance Activity up 1.2% in January

Braintree, MA. – (February 11, 2010) U.S. application activity for individually underwritten life insurance increased +1.2% in January year-over-year, according to the MIB Life Indexsm. January represents the sixth consecutive month where year-over-year change is positive for the U.S. Life Index – the longest sustained trend of U.S. increases on record. Application activity for the period December 2009 to January 2010 remained flat at +0.1%.

U.S. activity by age group showed: ages 0-44, off -2.5%; ages 45-59, up +2.5%; and ages 60+, up +15.2% – the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year, double-digit growth. Notably, the 45-59 age group, which has mostly lost ground since 2004, is experiencing an upswing in application activity that started in July of 2009 and has continued through this past January.
NOTE: Effective with the release of the MIB Life Index statistics for January 2010, MIB will suspend publication of the Canadian Life Index. Increasing volatility and ongoing consolidation in that market has created the need to re-examine the method of calculating the Canadian Life Index.

U.S. Monthly Percent Change
Jan. �10 / Jan. �09 +1.2%
Dec. �09 / Dec. �08 +2.6%

U.S. Monthly Percent Change Over Prior
Jan. 2010 +0.1%

U.S. Monthly Percent Change by Age Group (year-over-year)
  Jan. ’10 Dec. ’09 Nov. ’09
0 – 44 -2.5% -0.2% 0.0%
0 – 44 -2.5% -0.2% 0.0%
45- 59 +2.5% +3.3% +6.7%
60 + +15.2% +14.3% +18.8%


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.