Life and health insurance in France
Premiums started to rise again in 2013, 2014 and 2015, reaching 169.4 billion EUR in 2019.
The portfolio is divided into two main sub-categories:
- life and capitalization contracts,
- health and personal accident contracts.
While long term savings, consisting of life and capitalization, are down by 19.1% between 2010 and 2020, health and bodily injury premiums are growing strongly by 45.6% over the same period.
Read also | French insurance market
Evolution of Life and health insurance premiums in France: 2019-2020
After an increase of 3.7% in 2019, life and health insurance sustained a 16.5% decline in premiums in 2020 at 141.5 billion EUR. The unprecedented environment linked to the health crisis has led to a net outflow of 6.5 billion EUR. The previous sharp drop in premium income dates back to 2012 with an amount of 6.3 billion EUR, an outflow that was reflected in a jump in contract surrenders.
The underwriting decline (-19.6%) was sharpest in life and capitalization in 2020. This class of business, which reported a record premium volume of 144.6 billion EUR in 2019, fell to 116.3 billion EUR twelve months later, with the second worst premium collection in ten years.
In 2020, the French life insurance market (1) represents:
- 38 million beneficiaries,
- 141.5 billion EUR in contributions,
- 142.6 billion EUR in benefits, including 123 billion EUR paid to life and capitalization beneficiaries,
- 45% of households with at least one contract,
- an average contract duration of 12 years,
- 1 789 billion EUR of outstanding amounts (2),
- 2.5 million life underwritings per year.
(1) Figures from the French Insurance Federation
(2) Outstanding life insurance contracts = mathematical reserves + provisions for profit sharing
Life and health insurance premiums in France: evolution per company (2019-2020)
The life insurance market is highly concentrated, with the top ten companies accounting for 84% of premiums in 2020. Crédit Agricole Assurances is maintaining its leading position with 19.4 billion EUR (23.8 billion USD) of premiums that is, 13.7% of the total premium income.
AXA and CNP Assurances are ranked second and third respectively. It is worth noting that the first insurer of the ranking, Crédit Agricole Assurance, accounts for almost four times as many premiums as Allianz, which is in tenth position.
In millions| 2020 rank | Companies | 2020 turnover | 2019 turnover | 2019-2020 evolution * | 2020 shares | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In EUR | In USD | In EUR | In USD | ||||
| 1 | Crédit Agricole Assurances | 19 405 | 23 834 | 25 800 | 28 892 | -24.79% | 13.71% |
| 2 | AXA | 17 913 | 22 001 | 18 944 | 21 215 | -5.44% | 12.66% |
| 3 | CNP Assurances | 16 278 | 19 993 | 20 716 | 23 199 | -21.42% | 11.50% |
| 4 | BNP Paribas Cardif | 14 903 | 18 304 | 17 597 | 19 706 | -15.31% | 10.53% |
| 5 | Société Générale Assurances | 12 378 | 15 203 | 11 789 | 13 202 | 0.50% | 8.75% |
| 6 | Generali | 9 324 | 11 452 | 10 101 | 11 312 | -7.69% | 6.59% |
| 7 | Natixis Assurances | 9 318 | 11 445 | 11 324 | 12 681 | -17.71% | 6.59% |
| 8 | Assurances du Crédit Mutuel | 7 933 | 9 744 | 9 841 | 11 021 | -19.39% | 5.61% |
| 9 | Sgam AG2R La Mondiale | 6 093 | 7 484 | 6 240 | 6 988 | -2.36% | 4.31% |
| 10 | Allianz | 5 521 | 6 781 | 6 662 | 7 461 | -17.13% | 3.90% |
| Total top 10 | 119 066 | 146 241 | 139 014 | 155 677 | -14.35% | 84.15% | |
| Reste du marché | 22 434 | 27 559 | 30 386 | 34 023 | -26.17% | 15.85% | |
| Total général | 141 500 | 173 800 | 169 400 | 189 700 | -16.47% | 100% | |
* Evolution in EUR
Life and health insurance benefits
Benefits include surrenders of policyholders' contracts, benefits paid to beneficiaries in the event of death and to policyholders in the event of survival, as well as all sums paid out as provident scheme (individual accident, health, etc.).
From 2010 to 2020
Life and health insurance benefits, all categories combined, are up 37.7% over a 10-year period (2010-2020). This figure is to be compared to the evolution of premiums over the same period which is -12.1%. The life and health insurance market has, therefore, lost 49.8 points in claims experience in ten years, or 58.7 billion EUR.
From 2019 to 2020
Total benefits from life and health insurance activities amount to 142.6 billion EUR in 2020, a slight increase of 0.7% compared with 2019. This amount includes in 2020 the insurers' exceptional contribution to the expenses related to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the life and capitalization class of business, benefits remained practically unchanged, reaching 122.8 billion EUR in 2020, compared with 122.7 billion EUR in 2019. It is worth noting that life and capitalization premiums have fallen by almost 20% in 2020. As a result, the year ends with a deterioration in the technical result of this class of business compared to 2019.
Health and life accident insurance, on its part, shows an increase of 4.7% in benefits, from 18.9 billion to 19.8 billion EUR.
