Canadian life insurance application activity declined -2.7% Year-over-Year (YOY) in October 2022 compared to October 2021, following 2 months of growth or flat activity. On a Year-to-Date (YTD) basis, activity through October 2022 remains down -7.8% compared to 2021. On a Month-Over-Month (MOM) basis, October 2022 activity saw a decline of -4.9% compared to September 2022.

October saw YOY growth for ages 61-70, but declining activity for ages 0-50 and 71+ and flat activity for ages 51-60. Activity for ages 0-30 was down -2.4%, ages 31-50 down -5.2%, ages 51-60 flat at +0.7%, ages 61-70 up +4.7%, and ages 71+ down -1.8%.

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

When examining activity patterns where a product type was submitted to MIB, Universal Life saw double-digit YOY growth in October, while Term Life and Whole Life saw declining activity. When examining age bands, Universal Life saw double-digit YOY growth for ages 0-70 and double-digit declines for ages 71+. Whole Life saw YOY declines for all age bands, in the double digits for ages 71+. Term Life saw flat YOY activity for ages 0-30, declines for ages 31-60, and growth for ages 61+, in the double digits for ages 71+.

About 32% of total Life Index volume for Canada in October 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. When looking solely at submissions identified as Life Insurance products, activity for Canada in October was up +3.3% YOY and flat at -0.5% YTD.

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