Demand for life insurance in the U.S. dropped 2.4 per cent in February year-over-year, according to the MIB Life Index. This is an improvement compared to January’s 4.4 per cent decline.

The MIB Life Index measures application activity for individually underwritten life insurance in the United States.

Weakening began in Q3 2016

After two years of substantial gains in 2015 and 2016, the composite Life Index started weakening in the third quarter of 2016 and “has yet to show a firm correction from the downturn,” observes MIB.

Demand for life insurance was down among all age groups, however, the downturn was less significant for younger age groups. Application activity for ages 0-44 dropped 1.8 per cent; for ages 45-59 the decrease was 3.5 per cent; and for ages 60 and up, the decline stood at 2.7 per cent.