Understanding Key Life Insurance Markets

LIMRA’s and Life Happens’ annual Insurance Barometer Study tracks the financial perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of adult consumers, with a focus on life insurance. Understanding facts and insights about key markets — such as Black Americans and women — can inform business strategy, support marketing of life insurance products, and help highlight the important role life insurance plays in a family’s financial security.

The U.S. Women’s Market

There are 131 million adult women in the United States. In 2021, 47 percent of women owned life insurance, 11 points below the ownership rate of men (58 percent). This marks the fifth consecutive year of declines in the rate of women’s life insurance ownership.

• 43 percent of women believe they need (or need more) life insurance, which equates to more than 56 million women living with an acknowledged life insurance coverage gap.
  
  
• More than a third of women (35 percent) wish they had purchased life insurance coverage earlier in life. An equal proportion believe they do not have enough coverage.
  
  
• A majority of women (53 percent) say the major reason they have life insurance is to pay for burial and financial expenses. Women also cite replacing income and paying off mortgages as top reasons for coverage.
  
  
• Four in 10 women say their households need enough life insurance to cover 5 to 10 years of a primary wage earner’s income, in the event of that primary wage earner’s death. Another 4 in 10 women (37 percent) set their sights higher, saying they would need 11 years or more of coverage.

The Black American Market

There are 44 million adult Black Americans in the United States. In 2021, 56 percent of Black Americans owned life insurance, an increase of three percentage points since 2020.

• 75 percent of Black Americans believe they should own life insurance, yet just 56 percent have life insurance coverage.
  
  
• Half (51 percent) of insured Black Americans wish they had purchased their life insurance policies at a younger age.
  
  
• Black Americans’ top reason for owning life insurance is to cover final expenses (66 percent). They also cite wealth transfer and supplementing retirement income as top reasons for coverage.
  
  
• Two thirds of Black Americans believe they should have enough life insurance to replace at least 10 years of income.

Nearly 40 percent believe they need 15 or more years of coverage.

For More Information

To see more statistics and insights, please visit www.limra.com/help-protect-our-families.