In the United States, more people applied for life insurance this July than they did during the same month last year.

According to the MIB Life Index, which measures application activity for individually underwritten life insurance in the United States, the demand for individually underwritten life insurance in July rose 0.7% across all age groups, year-over-year.

MIB suggests that July's increase is a reason for optimism. Although the index has remained steady since March, there were decreases in the five previous quarters. Year-to-date, the MIB Life Index remains down 2.3% compared to the same seven month period in 2013. "Continued upward momentum in the MIB Life Index may portend a stronger fall selling season," reads the MIB announcement.

Application activity in the United States was flat across the two youngest age groups, with ages 0 to 44 down 0.3% while ages 45-59 were up just 0.3%, year-over-year. The over 60 age group, however, posted its second strongest gain of the year in July, up 4.5% year-over-year. MIB points out that improved results in its composite Life Index have been largely driven by steady gains in the over-60 life insurance market recorded since April of this year.