U.S. Life Insurance Activity Declines 2.6% In July

Braintree, MA. (August 8, 2017) —U.S. individually underwritten life insurance activity continued to lose ground in July with the MIB Life Index composite down -2.6%, year-over-year. The MIB Life Index has declined in every month of 2017; year-to-date the composite Index is off -3.1%. In relative terms, the 2017 YTD index values (January - July, 99.92) compares just slightly ahead of 2015 YTD index values (99.73) for the same period. July application activity was -1.7% off pace from that of June 2017, typical of summer seasonality.

U.S. life insurance application activity declined across three all age groups in July, exhibiting a  distribution pattern that has become distinctive this year. Ages 0-44 were off slightly at -0.4%, ages 45-59 showed the sharpest declines at -5.7%, and ages 60+ were off more than usual at
-4.5% compared to same month last year. Year-to-date, application activity ages 0-44 are off
–2.1% YTD, ages 45-59 are off -5.5% YTD, and ages 60+ are off -2.4% YTD. One bright spot in July’s numbers show application activity in ages 0-44 (the largest age group in the Life Index) progressively showing improvement since April, despite remaining negative; ages 45-59 is consistently the worst performer; and ages 60+ losses have deepened since April.

About the MIB Life Index
The MIB Life Index is the life insurance industry's timeliest measure of application activity in the United States. Released to the media each month, the Index is based on the number of searches MIB life member company underwriters perform on the MIB Checking Service database. Since the vast majority of individually underwritten life premium dollars in North America include an MIB search as a routine underwriting requirement, the MIB Life Index provides a reasonable means to estimate new business activity. For past releases, methodology or to subscribe visit www.mib.com/lifeindex.