Parliamentary Replies
Published Date: 24 November 2010

Reply to PQ on Life Insurance Policies



Question No ----139
Notice Paper No. 246 of 2010
For Written Answer

Date: For Parliament Sitting On or after 23 November 2010

Name and Constituency of Members of Parliament
Ho Geok Choo, MP for West Coast GRC

Question

Q139  To ask the Senior Minister what percentage of Singaporeans have life insurance policies and how many of those insured have investment-linked policies. 
 
Response

1  The penetration rate of life insurance coverage in Singapore, measured as the percentage of insurance premium over the GDP of the country, is 5.1% in 2009 .  By this measure, Singapore is ranked 17th in the World and 5th in Asia. 

2  As of end 2009, about 14% of the total in-force life policies comprised  investment-linked policies.  The breakdown of in-force policies by product type as at end 2009 is as follows:

2009

Investment Linked

Term

Whole Life

Endowment

Accident & Health

Others

Total

% of In-Force Policies

14%

19%

16%

17%

33%

1%

100%

Investment-linked, Whole Life and Endowment products contain an investment element, and these products comprise 47% of the total in-force policies.

3  To help consumers better identify their own insurance needs and understand the different features of insurance products, MAS and the Life Insurance Association have issued consumer guides on life insurance, investment-linked insurance plans and participating life insurance policies. These guides are produced under MoneySENSE, our national financial education programme, and are available on MoneySENSE’s website.