New research from LIMRA, the Canadian Individual Life Insurance Sales Survey, has found that new annualized premium in Canada increased four per cent in 2023 to $1.86-billion. “This is the highest sales ever recorded in the Canadian market since the survey was established in 1993,” LIMRA researchers write. In the fourth quarter, total life insurance new annualized premium in Canada rose five per cent year-over-year to $516-million. 

Whole life premiums grew the most, both for the fourth quarter of 2023 and for the full year. Representing 68 per cent of the life insurance market in Canada, whole life new annualized premium was up 10 per cent year-over-year in the fourth quarter and also up 10 per cent in all of 2023. Policy counts increased four per cent in both the fourth quarter and the full year measures. LIMRA says participating whole life premium jumped 12 per cent in 2023, driving overall growth in the market.

Term life premiums 

Term life premiums, meanwhile, increased three per cent year-over-year in the fourth quarter and one per cent over 2022’s results. Universal life new annualized premium fell 14 per cent in the fourth quarter and recorded the same drop for all of 2023. Term products made up 19 per cent of new annualized premium in Canada, while universal life represented 13 per cent of the total in 2023.

In the fourth quarter, term life policy counts rose three per cent, while universal life policy counts dropped nine per cent. For the full year, the number of term life products sold dropped two per cent, while the number of universal life policies fell eight per cent.