As the world cools from exceptional growth, it is far from slowing into weakness
MUNICH and SINGAPORE, June 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Allianz Research today published its latest “Global Insurance Report”, which analyzes developments in insurance markets worldwide.
According to the report, the global insurance industry is estimated to have grown by +7.1% to EUR6.9trn in 2025, adding EUR456bn to the global premium pool. Although growth moderated from the exceptional +9.4% recorded in 2024, it remained comfortably above the ten year compound average growth rate (CAGR) of +5.6%, confirming that the industry’s growth drivers remain firmly intact. Life insurance remained the largest segment (EUR2,861bn), followed by P&C (EUR2,320bn) and health (EUR1,688bn).
- The life insurance market remained robust in 2025, although the exceptional post-rate-hike boom in North America has clearly lost momentum. Global life premiums grew by +6.9% in 2025, down from the exceptionally strong +11.3% recorded in 2024 but still comfortably above historical norms. The moderation was driven primarily by North America, where the annuity boom fueled by households locking in higher interest rates has started to lose momentum. Asia has meanwhile re-emerged as the industry’s principal growth engine, with life premiums rising by +9.9% in 2025 and China alone expanding by +11.4%. Asia remains the world’s largest life insurance market, supported by demographic ageing, high savings rates, and less comprehensive public pension systems.
- Health insurance is becoming the industry’s clearest structural growth story. Global health premiums increased by +12.3% in 2025, the strongest expansion since 2014, as ageing populations, rising medical costs, and pressure on public healthcare systems continued to drive demand for private protection. North America alone grew by +14.9% as medical inflation accelerated further, with the US now accounting for more than 70% of global health premiums. Despite some normalization following the post-Covid surge, long-term growth potential remains particularly strong in Asia, where health insurance penetration is still below 1% in almost all markets.
- Geopolitics and fragmentation are becoming central forces shaping the insurance industry. A more fragmented global economy is making risk environments more complex, challenging cross-border business models and weakening traditional diversification benefits. At the same time, fragmentation is also creating new growth opportunities by increasing demand for protection, resilience and specialized risk transfer across areas such as infrastructure, energy security and political risk insurance. Insurers will need to adapt by building more regionally resilient operating models, integrating geopolitical analysis more directly into underwriting and capital allocation, and developing products tailored to emerging risks.
- The P&C market is moving from pricing boom towards normalization. Global premiums increased by +3.8% in 2025, well below both last year’s +8.5% expansion and the segment’s ten year CAGR of +5.6%, as pricing cycles matured and claims inflation began to stabilize. North America remained the industry’s dominant market, accounting for 52% of global P&C premiums, although growth slowed sharply to +2.2% from +9.7% in the previous year. Western Europe remained comparatively resilient with growth of +5.3%, while the Asian1 market was less dynamic expanding by only +4.0%.
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Insurance premiums*
EURbn
CAGR** (%)
2024
2025
2036
2026-2036
Western Europe
1,574
1,671
2,466
3.6
North America
2,985
3,191
5,562
5.2
Asia ex Japan & China
501
556
1,142
6.8
Japan
260
265
360
2.8
China
694
746
1,627
7.3
Singapore
35.8
39.7
73.0
5.7
Rest of the world
399
441
972
7.5
World
6,413
6,869
12,129
5.3
*The conversion into EUR is based on 2025 exchange rates.
**Compound annual growth rate
Singapore: Broad-Based Double-Digit Growth Underscores Hub Strength
The Singapore insurance market recorded strong growth of +10.7% in 2025, with total premium income rising to EUR 39.7bn. P&C insurance premiums expanded by +8.3%, while life insurance premiums grew by +10.8%, well above the 2015-2025 average of +7.5%, supported by population aging and increasing demand for private pension provision. Health insurance premiums rose by +12.6%, reflecting growing demand for supplementary health coverage.
Outlook: Insurance remains a growth industry
Overall, the global insurance market is expected to grow at an annual rate of +5.3% over the next ten years, slightly above economic output. For Singapore, overall annual growth is expected to be +5.7% (nominal GDP: 3.7%). For P&C, we expect global annual growth of +4.7% up to 2036 (Singapore: 5.6 %). The segment will show solid growth rates in almost all markets, as the increasing need for protection is a global phenomenon. Allianz Research also remains confident about life insurance, which can expect annual growth of +4.9% thanks to higher interest rates (Singapore: 5.5%). Wider Asia remains the growth engine, driven by the need for private provision in the face of accelerating demographic change. The smallest segment, health insurance, should remain the most dynamic, with annual growth of +6.7% (Singapore: 8.4%). Asia in particular still has a lot of catching up to do.
In absolute terms, the global premium pool will grow by EUR5,260bn over the next ten years. Most of this growth will come from life insurance (EUR1,991bn). More than half of this additional premium pool will be generated in Wider Asia (EUR1,004bn), exceeding North America (EUR416bn) and Western Europe (EUR402bn) combined. In P&C insurance, 44% of the additional premiums of EUR1,505bn will come from North America. In health insurance, we expect additional premiums of EUR1,764bn, most of which will come from the US market.
The global insurance map will continue shifting eastward, albeit gradually. North America is expected to retain a global market share of roughly 46% through 2036, surrendering only marginal ground over the next decade (-0.5pp). India and China, by contrast, are expected to continue gaining relevance, together adding almost 4pp of global market share. Western Europe will continue to lose relative weight. A glimmer of hope for the Old Continent: while it lost 5.3pps of market share in the last decade, it may lose “only” 4pps in the next decade.
“Geopolitical fragmentation is reversing many of the assumptions that shaped the global economy for decades,” said Ludovic Subran, Chief Economist and Chief Investment Officer at Allianz. “As trade, capital flows and regulation become increasingly fragmented, resilience is replacing efficiency as the dominant organizing principle. This shift is making the operating environment more complex and costly, making the push for affordability even more urgent. Nothing less than insurance’s strategic importance is at stake: not only as a mechanism for risk transfer, but also as a critical enabler of investment, innovation and economic confidence.”
[1] Asia always refers to the region excluding China and Japan. If both countries are included, we use the term wider Asia.
About Allianz
The Allianz Group is one of the world’s leading insurers and asset managers with around 128 million* private and corporate customers in nearly 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 768 billion euros** on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage about 1.9 trillion euros** of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are among the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2024, over 156,000 employees achieved total business volume of 179.8 billion euros and an operating profit of 16.0 billion euros for the group.
* Including non-consolidated entities with Allianz customers.
** As of March 31, 2025.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.