U.S. life insurance application activity ended Q2 down -6.1% YTD, with activity in June Year-over-Year (YOY) down -6.0%. However, when taking a historical lookback, 2022 mid-year YTD activity was flat at +0.8% compared to 2020 and up +2.1% compared to 2019. On a quarterly basis, Q2-2022 saw YOY declines of -6.6% compared to Q2-2021. Additionally, in a pattern consistent with historical seasonal trends, Q2-2022 was down compared to Q1-2022 by -12.2%.

Continuing a pattern that started in April of 2021, growth for ages 71+ outpaced that for other age groups in June and also for Q2-2022. When comparing Q2-2022 YOY to Q2-2021, ages 71+ saw growth of +4.5% while ages 0-30 saw declines of -8.1%, ages 31-50 of -6.8%, ages 51-60 of -7.3% and ages 61-70 of -6.5%. Results on a YTD basis as of mid-year 2022 followed a similar pattern with ages 71+ at growth and all other age groups at a decline. However, when comparing to mid-year YTD 2022 results to mid-year 2019 and 2020, all age groups saw growth or flat activity.

June YOY saw flat activity for amounts over $250K up to and including $1M, and declines for all other face amounts. On a quarterly basis, face amounts over $500k up to and including $1M and amounts over $5M saw flat activity in Q2-2022 YOY compared to Q2-2021, while other face amounts declined. When examining age bands, Q2 YOY saw growth for ages 0-30 for face amounts over $500K, in the double digits for amounts over $5M, declines for amounts up to and including $250K, and flat activity for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K. Ages 31-50 saw flat activity for amount over $5M and declines for all other face amounts. Ages 51-60 saw declines across all face amounts. Ages 61-70 saw growth for amounts over $5M, and declines for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $500K up to and including $5M. Ages 71+ saw growth for amounts up to and including $250K and amounts over $5M, and declines for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $1M up to and including $5M.

Continuing a pattern seen last quarter, Q2-2022 saw YOY declines for Term Life and Universal Life, and double-digit declines for Whole Life. When examining age bands for Q2 YOY, Term Life saw declines across all age groups. Universal Life saw flat activity for ages 0-30 and ages 71+, and declines for all other age bands. Whole Life saw declines across all age bands, in the double-digits for ages 0-70.

For the mid-year report, we are including an analysis on application activity by gender. Historically, female applicants represent a larger proportion of activity than males. This trend continued into 2022 with females accounting for 46.9% of total application activity while males accounted for 45.4% as of mid-year 2022 (the remainder of applicants are undesignated). When comparing mid-year YTD activity for 2022 to 2021, activity for females slightly outpaced that for males, with declines at -6.0% and -6.7% respectively. A more in-depth analysis reveals key differences in activity patterns for face amounts over $250K up to and including $500K where activity for males declined YTD but activity for females was flat. Also of interest, activity for amounts over $5M saw growth for females YTD but was flat for males. Both males and females saw declining activity for all other face amounts. Another key difference emerges when examining age bands, both female and male activity saw YTD declines for ages 0-70, while females saw growth for ages 71+ and males showed flat activity.

Coming Soon - As part of our mid-year report we will be publishing a video providing additional insights into the first half of 2022. Follow us on LinkedIn to receive notifications in your feed.