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Gen Re is pleased to share the results from our latest U.S. Group Term Life Market Survey, an industry benchmarking survey covering the Group Term Life (GTL) and AD&D industry. The survey tracks sales and in‑force results as well as lapse rate and employee-paid data.
Twenty-one of the 29 companies participating in the 2021 survey have provided Group Term Life data over the past 10 survey years.
Download the PDF version for a list of participating companies.
Twenty-nine companies provided GTL results for 2021. Twenty-seven provided AD&D results. On a combined basis, total GTL and AD&D in‑force premium reached $31.6 billion, with GTL representing the majority (94%) of the total. (Exhibit A)
For GTL in‑force premium, reported industry growth has ranged between 2% and 5% over the past 10 years. In 2021, in‑force premium grew by 6% compared to 2020.
After a five-year low of 1% growth in 2020, AD&D in‑force premium rose by 3% in 2021. (Exhibit B)
Participating companies reported over $2.9 billion in combined GTL and AD&D sales premium in 2021, with GTL accounting for 92% of the total. (Exhibit C)
GTL new sales premium rebounded in 2021, increasing 7% year-over-year after a large decline in 2020.
The top 10 companies held 82% of the market share for new sales premium in 2021. As reported in the past, a small number of companies can strongly influence industry growth. Removing three of the top 10 companies that experienced significant increases or decreases in GTL new sales premium from the calculations would result in a -2% growth rate versus a 7% increase.
AD&D sales premium, which tends to be volatile year-over-year, increased by 1%. (Exhibit D)
After falling by 10% in 2020, GTL new sales case counts rose 5% in 2021. Fifty-five percent of companies reporting this data (16 out of 29) experienced a positive result, with 10 showing an increase greater than 10%. After three years of slight increases, in‑force case counts were up by 3% in 2021. (Exhibit E)
For companies providing sales case size breakdown information for the two-year period, the 10–99 category accounted for the highest percentage of cases in 2021 (55%), followed by the 1–9 grouping (29%). Results were similar for in‑force (51% and 31%, respectively). Less than 1% fell in the 5,000+ range for both sales and in‑force.
New sales lives grew by 6% in 2021. In‑force lives decreased 1% year-over-year, the first decline reported since the inception of the survey. (Exhibit F)
Average face amounts for new sales were down year-over-year, while in‑force face amounts increased 3%. The negative growth in new sales face amounts was impacted by results for a small number of companies with declines greater than 25%.
Monthly premium rates were up by 10% for new sales and grew slightly for in‑force. Five of the companies reporting an increase in monthly premium rates for new sales saw double digit growth in 2021. (Exhibit G)
Average premium per life grew for both new sales and in-force business. (Exhibit H)
If you have any questions about our summary report, please reach out to me – or let me know if you'd like to participate in next year’s industry survey!
