Insurance penetration in Belgium 1983-2021

Insurance penetration in Belgium peaked at 10.8 percent in 2005 and decreased in subsequent years. Insurance penetration is defined as insurance premiums as a percentage of GDP, and is deemed the standard measure to check the development of a country's insurance market. In 2021, Belgium reached an insurance penetration of approximately 6.2 percent. There were less than 100 insurance companies in Belgium at the end of the same year.

The biggest insurance branch in Belgium is the life branch, which focuses on life insurance, pensions and funeral in kind insurance and reached a market share of life insurance business in terms of gross premium, the ratio of gross life insurance premium to the total gross premium, of approximately 76 percent in Belgium in 2005. This, however, decreased to 55 percent in 2015. This development coincides with the European Central Bank purchasing assets on credit markets across Europe and, consequently, low interest rates in long-term investments, such as the capital market rate of ten-year government bonds in Belgium. From 2006 onwards, the number of life insurance companies decreased steadily. In 2007, there were approximately 30 companies active on the domestic market with 11 companies by 2022.