U.S. life insurance application activity was flat at +0.1% Year-over-Year (YOY) in November 2023 compared to November 2022, ending the month up +2.6% Year-to-Date (YTD). When comparing November 2023 to the same month in prior years, activity was flat at -0.1% YOY compared to 2021, up +2.8% compared to 2020, and up +4.1% compared to 2019. When taking a historical lookback on a YTD basis, activity through November 2023 was down -3.2% compared to 2021, flat at +0.9% compared to 2020, and up +4.4% compared to 2019. On a Month-over-Month basis (MOM), November was up +5.4% compared with October.

When looking at age bands, November saw a continuation of a pattern that began in October with ages 71+ leading in YOY growth. However, patterns for all other age bands have fluctuated with activity for ages 0-30 down -2.7%, ages 31-50 up +2.1%, ages 51-60 down -4.5%, ages 61-70 flat at +0.6%, and ages 71+ up +11.6%. However, on a YTD basis activity for ages 0-50 was at growth, ages 51-70 declined and ages 71+ is flat. Activity YTD for ages 0-30 was up +5.1%, ages 31-50 up +5.2%, ages 51-60 down -2.1%, ages 61-70 down -3.0% and ages 71+ flat at -0.2%.

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

November 2023 saw YOY flat activity for Term Life and growth for Universal Life and Whole Life. Specifically, Term Life was flat at +1.0%, Universal Life up +2.5%, and Whole Life up +6.6%, representing the second month that Whole Life led in YOY growth.

When examining activity by product type and age band, Term Life saw growth for ages 0-50, flat activity for ages 51-60, and declines for ages 61+, in the double-digits for ages 71+. Universal Life saw flat activity for ages 0-30, growth for ages 31-50, declines for ages 51-70, and double-digit growth for ages 71+. Whole Life saw flat activity for ages 0-30 and growth for all other age bands, in the double digits for ages 61+.