Africa Accounts for Only 1.4% of World Insurance Premium

Monday, May 16, 2016

The African Insurance Organisation, AIO, has decried the low level of insurance penetration in Africa, saying that the continent can boast of only about 1.4 per cent of total world premium. President of AIO, Mrs. Lamia Ben Mahmoud who made the assertion at the 43rd Conference and Annual General Assembly of the AIO in Marrakech, Morocco last week noted that there is clear predominance of developed countries on the insurance market.
Mahmoud said, ‘This weakness is even more apparent regarding our African countries with a modest share not exceeding 1.4 per cent of total premiums written in the world and a low penetration in the economy with a premium/GDP ratio not exceeding 1 per cent in some countries, below the average rate of 2.7 per cent recorded in 2014 for the entire continent.’ She said that there is need to develop between insurers and reinsurers a solid partnership that can help to improve access to insurance services and building a strong and complementary African insurance industry.
According to her, that is a challenge and a goal despite the economic difficulties experienced by our region. ‘Insurance penetration is still a hard nut to crack, the share of insurance premiums as a percentage of GDP, has remained exceptionally low. In some countries it only amounts to less than 1%, well below the global emerging market average of 2.7% in 2014, while Africa’s share of the global insurance market is 1.1% for non-life and 1.8% for life but this is a demonstration of the enormous growth potential within the industry African insurance industry, an indicator that the insurance market is still widely untapped.

Source: Naija247news (link opens in a new window)

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financial inclusion, insurance