Life and non-life insurance premium volumes grow in Europe in 2010

CEA publishes comprehensive 2010 insurance statistics

Brussels, 21 December 2011: European insurers saw a rise in total gross written premiums in both the life and non-life sectors in 2010, according to detailed figures released today by the CEA, the European insurance and reinsurance federation.
Provisional figures for 2010 show that the gross premiums written totalled €1 104bn, a growth of 2.5% at constant exchange rates over 2009.
Insurers are also among the largest institutional investors and European insurers’ total portfolio in 2010 amounted to more than €7 400bn.
Life premiums, which account for 60% of total gross written premiums, amounted to €676bn, up 2.5% on 2009. Non-life premiums grew 2.7% year-on-year to €428bn.
Within the non-life sector, growth in health cover was particularly strong at 5.9%. This confirms that health insurance continues to be one of the most dynamic business lines, as insurers continue to help ease the burden of ageing populations and rising medical costs faced by state systems.
In 2010, an average of €1 879 was spent on insurance in the 32 full member countries represented by the CEA. Of this, €1 150 was spent on life insurance and the remaining €729 on non-life insurance, of which €184 was on health cover.
These figures are published today in “CEA Statistics No44: European Insurance in Figures”, which is available to download from the CEA’s website, www.cea.eu.