Canadian life insurance application activity finished 2023 up +5.6% Year-to-Date (YTD) compared with 2022, representing the first time since 2016 that Canadian application activity has ended the year at growth. 2023 saw YOY growth for 10 out of 12 months, in the double digits in July, August, and October, ending the year with December activity up +2.7% compared to December 2022.

Throughout the year we saw fluctuating patterns by age band, with ages 71+ soaring in growth from April through the end of the year, consistently achieving triple-digit growth throughout all of Q4. Ages 61-70 also saw a surge in growth, achieving double-digit growth consistently from May through the end of the year. On a YTD basis, 2023 activity ended at growth for all age groups, in the double digits for ages 61+. Activity for ages 0-30 was up +2.3% YTD, ages 31-50 up +3.1%, ages 51-60 up +5.2%, ages 61-70 up +16.4%, and ages 71+ showed the highest growth of +61.0%.

2023 life insurance application activity saw YTD growth for face amounts up to and including $250K and amounts over $1M, declines for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K, and flat activity for amounts over $500K up to and including $1M. When examining age bands, ages 0-30 saw growth for face amounts up to and including $250K and double-digit growth for amounts over $2.5M, flat activity YTD for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K and double-digit declines for face amounts over $500K up to and including $2.5M. Ages 31-50 saw YTD growth for amounts over $500K, in the double digits for amounts over $1M up to and including $5M, and declines for amounts up to and including $500K. Ages 51-60 saw YTD growth for amounts up to and including $500K as well as amounts over $1M up to and including $2.4M, double-digit growth for amounts over $5M, and declines for all other face amounts. Ages 61-70 saw YTD declines for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K, and growth in all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts up to and including $250K and amounts over $1M up to and including $5M. Ages 71+ saw double-digit YTD growth for amounts up to and including $2.5M, and declines for amounts over $2.5M.

YTD growth in 2023 for Canada was driven by growth in Whole Life of +4.4% and double-digit growth in Universal Life of +29.5%, which offset double-digit declines in Term Life of -16.3%. When examining age bands, we see that the growth surge for ages 61+ was largely focused on Universal Life, which saw growth across all age bands, in the double digits for ages 31-70, and in the triple digits for ages 71+. Whole Life saw YTD growth for ages 0-60, flat activity for ages 61-70, and declines for ages 71+ while Term Life saw declines across all age bands, in the double digits for ages 0-70.

During 2023, over 34% of total Life Index volume for Canada did not include a product type. We believe the vast majority of these submissions are for Life Insurance applications and have included them in the composite analysis presented in this report. However, missing product type information can have a significant impact on the Canadian analysis, especially at this large volume. When looking solely at submissions identified as for Life Insurance products, Canadian application activity finished 2023 flat at -0.8% YTD compared with 2022.