Canadian life insurance application activity showed a decline of -9.6% Year-over-Year (YOY) in January 2022 compared to January 2021, reflecting a continuing pattern of YOY declines that began in July. On a Month-Over-Month (MOM) basis, January 2022 activity remained flat at +0.6% comparing to December 2021.

January saw declining Year-Over-Year (YOY) activity across all age groups, in double digits for age 31-50. Activity for ages 0-30 was down -3.0%, ages 31-50 down -14.0%, ages 51-60 down -9.3%, ages 61-70 down -4.0% and ages 71+ down -9.0%.

January saw YOY double-digit declines in application activity for face amounts up to and including $500K and growth for face amounts over $500K, in the double digits for face amounts over $1M. Worthy of noting, growth was over 30% for face amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M.

When examining age bands, ages 0-30 saw declining YOY activity for face amounts up to and including $500K, double-digit increases for face amounts over $500K up to and including $1M as well as for amounts over $2.5M and triple-digit increases for face amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M. Ages 31-50 saw double-digit YOY growth for face amounts over $1M up to and including $5M and declining activity for all other face amounts, in the double digits for face amounts up to and including $500K. Ages 51-60 saw double-digit YOY declines for face amounts up to and including $500K and growth for all other face amounts, in double digits for face amounts over $500K up to and including $1M as well as face amounts over $2.5M. Age 61-70 saw double-digit YOY declines for face amounts up to and including $250K, double-digit growth for face amounts over $250K up to and including $500K and amounts over $2.5M and flat activity for other face amounts. Ages 71+ saw growth for face amounts over $250K up to and including $500K and double-digit growth for face amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M and face amounts over $5M, but all other face amounts reflected declining activity, in double digits for face amounts up to and including $250K as well as amounts over $500K up to and including $1M.

When examining activity patterns where a product type was submitted to MIB, Universal Life was at growth YOY in January, while Whole Life activity remained flat and Term Life declined. When examining age bands, YOY activity for Term Life showed double-digit growth for ages 71+, flat for ages 61-70 and declined for all other age groups, in double digits for ages 31-50. Universal Life saw YOY growth for ages 31-70, reaching double digits for ages 51-70, while all other age groups saw YOY declines, in double digits for ages 71+. Whole Life saw double-digit YOY growth for ages 0-30 and declines across all other age bands, in the double digits for ages 51+.

About 28% of total Life Index volume for Canada in January 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 the Canadian analysis. Growth varies when looking solely at submissions identified as Life Insurance products, with activity down -4.3% YOY for Canada in January 2022.