Market share of leading insurance companies in Belgium 2015-2018

AG Insurance was the largest active company on the Belgian insurance market, reaching a market share of more than 20 percent in 2018. AXA and KBC reached market share of 12 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. When it comes to health insurance, however, the market shares change. ERGO was the concern with the highest market share in Belgium’s private health insurance market in this period.

What is the insurance market size in Belgium?

In 2018, there were 111 insurance companies in Belgium. The biggest insurance branch in Belgium is the "life" branch, which focuses on life insurances, pensions and funeral in kind insurances. This is based on the so-called life insurance market share in terms of gross premium, a ratio which measures whether consumers spend more on life insurance or on non-life insurance. This ratio was approximately 76 percent in Belgium in 2005. This, however, decreased to approximately 54 percent in 2017.

How does health insurance work in Belgium?

In Belgium, all employees and self-employed must register and make contributions to one of five free health insurance funds or “mutualities” (in Dutch: mutualiteit or ziekenfonds, in French: mutuelle). These funds are paid by social benefits and government subsidies, with patients free to choose their own medical professionals and places of treatment. To increase the cover for medical costs, however, Belgian residents can add private supplementary health insurances to their mutuality. For these reasons, Belgium writes less direct premiums for health insurance than the Netherlands (where the contents of basic health insurance are decided by the government but provided and partially funded by private health insurance companies).