U.S. life insurance: number of policies in force 2008-2020

The number of life insurance policies in force in the United States has remained below 300 million between 2010 and 2020. In 2020, there were approximately 254.9 million of life insurance policies in force in the United States.

Impact of 2008 recession on life insurance

The year after the 2008 recession, the total number of life insurance policies in force dropped from around 335 million to 291 million. When money is tight, it appears that consumers think life insurance is something they can’t afford, instead of a tool which can be used to protect their loved ones in an emergency. Furthermore, even though the economy has since improved, the number of life insurance policies which people have has not been able to bounce back to what it was before the crisis.

Did the life insurance sector ever fully recover?

While the face value of individual policies shows an upward trend as does the face amount of all policies since 1992, both show only a partial recovery since 2008. Furthermore, the number of life insurance policy purchases seems to have been on the decline since well before the crisis.