Canadian life insurance application activity ended Q2 up +6.9% YTD with activity in June Year-over-Year (YOY) up at +9.5%. Q2-2021 ended up +14.8% over Q2-2020, representing the first quarter at growth since Q1-2017 and the highest quarterly Canadian growth rate on record. However, the YOY comparisons are impacted by a significant drop in Q2-2020 activity attributable to the COVID pandemic. When comparing Q2-2021 to Q2-2019, activity is down -6.2%.

All age groups were flat or at growth in June YOY as well as YTD at mid-year. Q2 also saw the first quarter where all age groups were at growth since Q4-2016. We observed a shift in growth trends across age bands in Q2 starting in May, with ages 31-50 taking the lead in YOY growth while age 61-70 grew the least.

June saw flat results for face amounts up to $250K and growth YOY across all other face amounts. Growth was in the double digits for face amounts over $500K, with face amounts over $1M up to and including $5M showing over 50% YOY gains. Q2 saw similar patterns with growth across all face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $250K and over 50% for amounts over $1M up to and including $5M. Year-to-date at mid-year, all face amounts are at growth, in the double digits for face amounts over $500K.

When looking at mid-year YTD results by age band, age 0-60 was flat or at growth across all face amounts. Age 0-30 saw double digit growth for face amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M and also for face amounts over $5M. Ages 31-50 saw double digit growth for all face amounts over $250K and ages 51-60 saw double digit growth for face amounts over $500K up to and including $5M. Ages 61-70 saw growth for face amounts up to $250K, amounts over $500K up to and including $1M, and double digits growth for face amounts over $1M up to $2.5M and over $5M. Ages 71+ saw growth for face amounts up to $250K, and double-digit growth for face amounts over $500K up to and including $1M and face amounts over $2.5M.

When examining activity patterns where a product type was submitted to MIB, Universal Life has emerged as a strong leader with growth exceeding 50% YTD at mid-year. The younger age bands are driving this growth in Universal Life with those ages 0-30 in triple digit growth YTD. The only age group to decline in interest in Universal Life was those age 61-70.

Whole Life also saw double digit growth at mid-year YTD with growth seen across all age bands, in the double digits for those ages 0-70. In contrast, Term Life was flat at mid-year YTD with double digit declines for ages 0-30, growth for ages 31-50, flat activity for ages 51-70 and double digit growth for ages 71+.

About 35% of total Life Index volume for Canada in June 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. Missing product type information has a significant impact on Canadian analysis. Growth varies when looking solely at submissions identified as for Life Insurance products, with activity up +3.7% YOY for Canada in June 2021, up 13.2% when comparing Q2-2020 to Q2-2021 and up +11.3% mid-year YTD.

NOTE: Due to frequent missing information regarding the applicant's country of residence, effective January 2021 we are now identifying Canadian activity based on the company country.

Contact: Betty-Jean Lane, MIB Group, Inc., 781-980-0017, BLane@mib.com