Jennifer Rudden
Research Lead Financial Services & Real estate
Insurance industry in Canada - statistics & facts
North America is home to two of the largest insurance industries in the world. The United States is the largest, though its northern neighbor also holds its own. In 2022, Canada ranked eighth in the world for the value of life and non-life direct premiums written. The non-life insurance market was almost 30 billion U.S. dollars larger than the life insurance market in that year. Auto insurance premiums accounted for almost 40 percent of total non-life insurance premiums.
The Canadian insurance market has grown over the past decades and is likely to continue on this path. Insurance companies earn money through insurance underwriting and investment returns, which means that even a decline in demand for insurance products is unlikely to impact the bottom line of these companies.
Who leads the Canadian insurance market?
Determining the Canadian insurance market leader depends on which metric is examined. For instance, the largest insurance company in Canada by assets in 2023 was Manulife Financial with nearly 900 billion Canadian dollars. In the same year, Manulife’s Canadian division generated revenues of over 12 billion Canadian dollars. However, Fairfax Financial was the largest Canadian insurer in terms of insurance revenue alone in 2023. These differences stem from the fact that insurance companies don't only generate revenue from insurance underwriting, but also from investments. Insurance companies are significant institutional investors.What is the customer perspective of the industry?
Health and auto insurance were the most common insurance policies taken out among Canadian consumers as of 2024. Although Canada has public health insurance, it does not cover all medical services and treatments and many Canadian take out supplemental health insurance to cover costs for services, such as dental care, prescription eyeglasses, and physiotherapy. Approximately 70 percent of Canadians had supplementary health insurance in 2022.The Canadian insurance market has grown over the past decades and is likely to continue on this path. Insurance companies earn money through insurance underwriting and investment returns, which means that even a decline in demand for insurance products is unlikely to impact the bottom line of these companies.
