USA, Japan and EU are the largest markets for insurance
Well at the front as the world’s largest market for insurance is the USA (34.2% share of world premiums) and Japan (21.0%). A long way back in third and fourth place are Great   Britain (8.4%) and Germany (6.3%) , ahead of France (5.4%). However, if the premiums paid in all 15 EU states are taken together, they reach the remarkable level of 29.8%. Countries outside the triad USA-Japan-EU account for only 15.0% of world premiums.

Development of premiums in the nineties.       
Premium growth in Europe varied between five per cent to above ten per cent in the nineties (+6.2% 1998). These high growth rates, well above average economic growth rates, reflect an increasing need for security among the population and the business community. In the field of life assurance, the penetration (share of the GDP accounted for by premiums) in the EU has risen to 4.34% and is thus above the figure for the USA (4.11%).   In the USA life business, with a premium growth +10.1% in 1998, reached its highest level in the nineties. . Japan, the world’s largest market for life assurance, showed a decline of 3.4%. In the former Communist European states the market development in the life assurance sector has been characterized by enormous swings from –20 to +40% since 1992).   Whilst particularly in the area of life assurance these markets still have a long way to go, in the non-life sector progress is more even. Of the EU candidate states of Eastern and Central Europe, the Baltic States, Poland the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia already have a penetration figure of over 2%.

In the non-life sector, since 1992 the growth rate in Western Europe has slackened. In 1998 occurred the first slight decline of premium income, by –0.2%. There was an upward trend only in Italy, which because of its under-average market penetration is a promising area for insurance.

"With an annual premium per head for life assurance of ATS 8,100 Austria ranges in the lower third of the EU field and there is scope for catching up with other industrial European countries. Partly because of the continuing political debate over pensions, an increasing number of Austrians in recent months have recognized the necessity of making private provision for a pension. This has lead to an overproportional growth of pension andendowment policies. In 1999 the Austrian market grew by 32 % points compared with 1988 to a premium volume of ATS 18.8 billion This trend has continued in 2000. In 1999 the UNIQA Group increased its premium volume in the fields of pensions and life maturity policies to ATS 3,255.7 million. This represents a market share of 17.3%. UNIQA’s share of the total Austrian life assurance market, amounting to ATS 66.6 billion, represents 19.4%", stated Dr. Christian Sedlnitzky, the responsible member of   UNIQA’s Management Board .

Source: Swiss Re, sigma No. 7/1999