Why ageing Asians prefer critical illness coverage

Japan and India have the largest share of life insurance ownership.

One in five elderly are not keen on life insurance ownership, yet nearly a third of East Asia’s population and almost a fifth of Southern and Western Asia’s population is projected to be aged 65 years old and up by 2060 – about 1.2 billion people. 

According to Reinsurance Group of America’s (RGA) “Ageing in Asia: Inclusive Insurance Study on Seniors” report, a lot of Asian markets regard public health care very high, however, some aged markets (South Korea, Japan and Taiwan) had lower confidence, mainly due to the already weak public systems.

The study found that life insurance had the lowest overall level of interest (83%) for ageing populations, compared to private health (97%) and critical illness (CI) insurance (96%).

In terms of previous habits, over a third (35%) of Asians said they owned life insurance, whilst 29% owned private health and 35% had CI insurance.

On a per-market basis, Japan and India have the largest share of life insurance ownership (58% and 54%, respectively).

Yet, many still don’t consider buying all three coverages due to portions of the coverage being excluded or declined based on pre-existing conditions. On top of that, a third of respondents indicated that premium prices were unaffordable for all three types of plans.

In the first quarter of the year, RGA conducted an analysis of 8 key Asian markets including China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It gathered a total of 1,636 respondents.