U.S. life insurance application activity was flat in November 2022 compared to November 2021, with Year-over-Year (YOY) activity at -0.2%. On a Year-to-Date (YTD) basis, activity through November 2022 was down -5.6% compared to November 2021. When taking a historical lookback, however, November 2022 YTD is near par with prior years, with activity down -1.6% compared with 2020 and up +1.8% compared with 2019. Additionally, on a Month-over-Month (MOM) basis, November 2022 was up +8.8% compared to October 2022.

Ages 0-60 and ages 71+ saw flat YOY activity in November, while ages 61-70 saw declining activity. November YOY activity for ages 0-30 was flat at -1.2%, ages 31-50 flat at 1.2%, ages 51-60 flat at -1.3%, ages 61-70 down -1.8%, and ages 71+ flat at +0.3%. It is interesting to note that ages 31-50 outpaced ages 71+ in growth for the first time since September 2021. However, on a YTD basis, Ages 71+ is at growth while all other age bands saw declining activity. Activity YTD for ages 0-30 is down -6.25, ages 31-50 down -6.6%, ages 51-60 down -6.0%, ages 61-70 down -4.0% and for ages 71+ up +2.6%.

When examining YOY activity by face amounts, growth was seen for face amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M, flat activity for face amounts up to and including $250K and amounts over $2.5M up to and including $5M, and declines for face amounts above $5M. On a YTD basis, face amounts over $500K up to and including $2.5M saw flat activity through November, while all other face amounts saw declines.

When expanding the face amount analysis to include age bands, ages 0-30 saw YOY growth for amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M and declining activity for all other face amounts. Ages 31-50 saw YOY growth for amounts over $250K up to and including $5M (double-digit growth for amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M), flat activity for amounts up to and including $250K, and double-digit declining activity for amounts over $5M. Ages 51-60 saw YOY growth for amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M and declining activity for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $5M. Ages 61-70 saw YOY growth for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K, flat activity for amounts up to and including $250K and amounts over $500K up to and including $1M, and declining activity across all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $2.5M. Ages 71+ saw YOY growth for face amounts up to and including $250K and amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M, flat activity for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K, and double-digit declines for all other face amounts.

November 2022 saw YOY growth in Term Life and Universal Life and a double-digit decline for Whole Life. Term Life was up +7.3% YOY, Universal Life was up +7.9%, and Whole Life was down -13.7%. Adding in age bands to our YOY analysis by product type, Term Life saw growth for ages 0-70 (in the double digits for ages 0-30) and declining activity for ages 71+. Universal Life saw growth across all age bands, in the double digits for ages 0-30. Whole Life saw double-digit declining activity for ages 0-70, and flat activity for ages 71+. On a YTD basis, all products declined with Term Life down -4.1%, Universal Life down -4.7% and Whole Life down -13.0%.