Total revenue of U.S. life/annuity insurance industry 2009-2019

In 2019, the U.S. life/annuity insurance industry generated revenues of 922.3 billion U.S. dollars. A life annuity is an insurance product, which is commonly used to provide a guaranteed income in retirement that cannot be outlived. The annuitant pays into it periodically while they’re still working, or makes a lump sum purchase upon retirement to provide a reliable, usually monthly, source of income.

Life/annuity insurance lines

The life/annuity insurance industry provides three lines of insurance: annuities, accident and health, and life insurance. The value of direct premiums written of annuities have been consistently higher than those of the other two lines. Prudential Financial was the U.S. life insurer with the largest annuity reserves.

Most popular life insurance distribution channel

Over half of all life insurance sales were made by independent agents in 2019. The next most used distribution channel were affiliated, or captive, agents who accounted for 36 percent of the sales in that year.