Life Insurance Activity Declines 1.5% In August

Braintree, MA.  — U.S. individually underwritten life insurance activity moderated in August but still showed weakness with the MIB Life Index composite down -1.5%, year-over-year. With year-over-year losses across every month of 2017, August’s decline showed restraint compared to February's -4.5% decline and March's -6.0% decline. Application activity improved year-to-date by tenths with the composite Index now off -2.9% YTD.  August application activity increased 0.4% from that of July 2017, signaling nascent growth for this time period.

U.S. life insurance application activity was mixed across three all age groups in August; the first time since last April where all three groups did not exhibit declines. Ages 0-44 were up slightly at 0.2%, ages 45-59 once again showed the sharpest declines at -4.0%, and ages 60+ were off
-2.6% compared to same month last year. Year-to-date, application activity ages 0-44 are off
-1.8% YTD, ages 45-59 are off -5.3% YTD, and ages 60+ are off -2.4% YTD. Younger age application activity (0-44) continues to show some promise in an otherwise declining environment.

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