Italy: gross written premiums from life insurance companies 2010-2017

Gross premiums written in Italian life insurance increased by nearly ten percent between 2010 to 2017, reaching a value of approximately 99 billion euros. This figure, however, represents a decrease compared to the peak registered in 2015, when gross written premiums in the life insurance sector in the Italian market reached nearly 115 billion euros. Despite the decrease in the last years, Italy has the third largest life insurance market in Europe in terms of gross written premiums, after the United Kingdom and France.

Non-life vs. life insurance in Italy

The life insurance sector in Italy is significantly bigger than the non-life insurance sector. Indeed, gross written premiums in the non-life insurance sector amounted to about 32 billion euros in 2017, one third of those of the life sector. Moreover, the non-life insurance penetration registered in the country in 2018 was of 1.73 percent, compared to 5.81 percent for life insurance. Insurance penetration is defined as insurance premiums as a percentage of GDP and is deemed the standard measure to check the development of a country's insurance market.

Insurance market in Italy

When considering the life and non-life insurance sectors combined, Italy represents the fourth largest market in Europe in terms of gross written premiums. Moreover, insurance penetration in the country reached 7.7 percent in 2018, while insurance density, which is an indicator used to gauge the development of the insurance sector within a country and is calculated as the ratio of total premiums to whole population, amounted to 2,234 euros.