Life insurance premiums written on the European market 2010-2020

In 2020, the amount of direct gross written premiums on the European life insurance market amounted to nearly 670 billion euros. This a decrease compared to the 772 billion euros recorded in 2019. The value of direct gross written premiums on the life insurance market in Europe peaked in 2018, when it reached approximately 840 billion euros.

Leading life insurance markets

The United Kingdom had the highest value of life insurance premiums among all European countries in 2019, followed by France and Italy. Together, the top three countries accounted for more than 60 percent of the European market. In terms of investment portfolio, the top three markets were France, the UK, and Germany, with a total value of over 5.1 billion euros.

Insurance market concentration in Europe

Market concentration is an easy way to illustrate how the market within an industry is distributed among companies of various sizes. In 2018, Germany, Sweden, and Italy were the countries with the least concentrated life insurance market in Europe. In all three countries, the combined market share of the three largest life insurance companies did not exceed 35 percent.