U.S. life insurance application activity finished Q3-2023 up +2.8% Year-to-Date (YTD) compared to Q3-2022. When taking a historical lookback, YTD activity was down -3.7% compared to Q3-2021, up +1.2% compared to Q3-2020, and up +5.1% compared to pre-COVID levels in Q3-2019. On a Year-Over-Year (YOY) basis, September 2023 activity was down -2.6% compared to September 2022 and activity during Q3-2022 finished flat at -0.4% compared to activity during Q3-2022. Additionally, when comparing Q3-2023 to the previous quarter (Q2-2023), activity was down -3.9%, following pre-COVID historical patterns where Q3 traditionally has lower activity than Q2.

Activity by age bands showed YOY flat or declining activity for September 2023. Ages 0-50 saw flat YOY activity, while ages 51+ saw declines in September, in the double digits for ages 61-70. On a quarterly basis, Q3-2023 saw YOY and YTD growth compared to Q3-2022 for ages 0-50 and declines for ages 51+, representing the third consecutive quarter that ages 0-50 lead in YOY growth.

When examining activity by face amount, September 2023 saw double-digit YOY declines for amounts up to and including $250K and growth across all other face amounts, in the double digits for face amounts over $1M. When comparing Q3-2023 to Q3-2022 we see similar patterns with amounts up to and including $250K declining and all other face amounts at growth, in the double digits for face amounts over $500K. On a YTD basis through the end of Q3 we again saw declines for face amounts up to and including $250K and growth for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $1M.

When including age bands comparing Q3-2023 to Q3-2022 YOY, 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 declines for amounts up to and including $250K and growth for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $500K. Ages 51-70 saw double-digit declines for amounts up to and including $250K and double-digit growth for all other face amounts. Ages 71+ saw declines for amounts up to and including $250K and growth for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M as well as amounts over $5M.

Continuing a pattern seen throughout 2023, Universal Life lead in YOY growth in September with flat activity of -0.7%. Additionally, Term Life and Whole Life saw declines of -2.8% and -6.3% respectively. When comparing Q3-2023 to Q3-2022, Universal Life saw growth of +3.0%, however Term Life was down -1.6% and Whole Life down -2.7%.

When breaking down the Q3-2023 to Q3-2022 YOY comparison by age bands, Universal Life saw growth for ages 0-30, double-digit growth for ages 31-50, declines for ages 51-70, and double-digit declines for ages 71+. Term Life saw growth for ages 0-30, flat activity for ages 31-50, and declines for all other age bands, with double-digit declines for ages 61+. Whole Life saw flat activity for ages 0-30, growth for ages 31-50, double-digit decline for ages 51-60, declines for ages 61-70, and growth for ages 71+.