A Descriptive Analysis of Canadian Insurance Markets

Abstract

Canada is the largest country in the western hemisphere and the second largest country in the world in terms of land area, but ranks twenty-fifth in terms of population. It is the smallest of the G7 economies with a population of approximately 31.6 million and a gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately US$867 billion in 2003. It ranks twelfth in the world in terms of GDP per capita. However, in terms of total insurance premium volumes (in U.S. dollars) sold worldwide during 2003, Canada ranked eighth with 2.01 percent of the market. More specifically, Canada ranked twelfth in life insurance with 1.37 percent of the world market, and seventh in non-life insurance with a market share of 2.86 percent (Swiss Re, 2004). These overall world rankings have been quite stable since 2000. With respect to insurance density (premiums per capita in U.S. dollars), Canada ranked seventeenth in 2003, while it ranked twenty-third in terms of insurance penetration (premiums as a percent of GDP).

The authors acknowledge the research and secretarial assistance of Marie-Pascale Koffi and Lise Jacques and the financial support of the Industrial-Alliance Insurance Chair. They would also like to thank the following people for their help and support in gathering the data needed for this research: Jane Voll, Teepu Khawja, and John Tyrrell from the Insurance Bureau of Canada; Yves Millette and Alice Freeburn from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association; and, finally, Jacques Carrière and Michel Naud from the Industrial-Alliance Insurance Group.