Abstract
The United States (U.S.) is home to the largest insurance market in the world. With over a trillion dollars in premiums written in 2003 (approximately 9.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)), insurance operations from the U.S. generated over 35 percent of the worldwide total, a market share in excess of the next four largest countries combined (Insurance Information Institute (III) 2005d, p.1).3 More than half of the 100 largest publicly traded insurance firms in the world are traded on U.S. exchanges. In 2003, seven of the top ten global insurance brokerage firms were U.S. companies (III 2005b, p. 4). The insurance sector is also a significant source of employment, comprising, on average, 2.1 percent of the entire U.S. workforce in the years 1994 to 2003 (III 2005b, p. 13). In 2003, insurers alone provided employment for over 1.4 million U.S. workers, while another 840,000 workers were employed at insurance agencies, brokerages, and at other firms with insurance-related activities.
The authors would like to recognize the important use of data and information from various U.S. organizations, especially the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), A.M. Best, the Insurance Information Institute (III), and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). The analyses presented in the chapter are not endorsed by any of these organizations and any mistakes are the sole responsibility of the authors.
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Graham, L., Xie, X. (2007). The United States Insurance Market: Characteristics and Trends. In: Cummins, J.D., Venard, B. (eds) Handbook of International Insurance. Huebner International Series on Risk, Insurance and Economic Security, vol 26. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34163-7_2
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