Life insurance market share to gross premium in Japan FY 2016-2022
In the fiscal year 2022, life insurance accounted for about 74 percent of gross insurance premiums in Japan, which totaled around 324.9 billion U.S. dollars. This corresponded to a market share of 8.6 percent in the OECD.
Japan’s life insurance market
Japan has one of the largest life insurance markets in the world. The majority of Japanese households is covered by some type of life insurance. Life insurance penetration, gross premiums written as a percentage of the GDP, stood at around six percent in fiscal year 2022, while the per capita spending on life insurance reached 1.9 thousand U.S. dollars. The total premium income generated by private life insurers reached 38 trillion yen in fiscal 2022.
Life insurance providers in Japan
Around 42 companies are operating in Japan’s life insurance market. Nippon Life Group, Dai-ichi Life Holdings, and Meiji Yasuda Life Group are three of the largest life insurance groups in terms of premium income. In addition to companies in the private sector, there is a large number of cooperatives which offer life and health insurance products. In recent years, the emergence of so-called small amount and short-term insurance companies that offer mini insurance products has created new business opportunities in Japan's life insurance industry.