Global insurance premiums continued to rise in 2017, despite falls in Western Europe.
A report released by Swiss Re Group showed global insurance premiums increased by 1.5 per cent to nearly $5trn (£3.78trn) in 2017 while global life premiums rose by 0.5 per cent and global non-life premiums by 2.8 per cent.
Falling life premiums in markets such as the US and Western Europe were the main drag on overall global premium growth but emerging markets were the key driver of growth.
Emerging markets, especially China, featured as the main leaders in global premium growth, which Swiss Re attributed to the rising demand for insurance as incomes, revenues and assets grow.
Jérôme Haegeli, Swiss Re Group's chief economist, said: "For the next decade, the shift to China is likely to continue. Given the impressive number of infrastructure initiatives underway in China, China's contribution to world insurance premiums could yet again exceed expectations.
"In the following decades, other markets such as India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria or Kenya could become more important."
Swiss Re said the life sector in advanced markets had yet to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, premiums in advanced European countries down by 0.7 per cent, with life premiums down by 1.9 per cent fall.
Figures showed the North American life market declined by 3.5 per cent in 2017 and the advanced Asian markets fell by 2.1 per cent as predictions of a lower mortality rate in Japan delayed protection purchases.
rachel.addison@ft.com
