Insurance Handbook

  • U.S. insurance industry net premiums written totaled $1.4 trillion in 2021, with premiums recorded by property/casualty (P/C) insurers accounting for 53 percent, and premiums by life/annuity insurers accounting for 47 percent, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
  • P/C insurance consists primarily of auto, homeowners and commercial insurance. Net premiums written for the sector totaled $715.9 billion in 2021.
  • The life/annuity insurance sector consists of annuities, accident and health, and life insurance. Net premiums written for the sector totaled $635.8 billion in 2021.
  • The U.S. insurance industry employed 2.8 million people in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Of those, 1.6 million worked for insurance companies, including life and health insurers (911,400 workers), P/C insurers (628,600 workers) and reinsurers (26,900 workers). The remaining 1.2 million people worked for insurance agencies, brokers and other insurance-related enterprises.

U.S. P/C And L/A Insurance Premiums, 2021 (1)

($ billions)

(1) P/C: net premiums written after reinsurance transactions, excludes state funds; life/annuity: premiums, annuity considerations (fees for annuity contracts) and deposit-type funds. Both sectors include accident and health insurance.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Employment In Insurance, 2014-2023

(Annual averages, 000)

  Insurance carriers Insurance agencies, brokerages and related services  
  Direct insurers (1)            
Year Life and
health (2)		 Property/
casualty		 Reinsurers Total Insurance
agencies
and brokers		 Other
insurance-
related
activities (3)		 Total Total
industry
2014 829.0 594.7 25.1 1,448.7 720.0 297.1 1,017.1 2,465.8
2015 829.8 611.6 25.1 1,466.5 762.8 309.1 1,071.8 2,538.3
2016 818.9 643.5 25.3 1,487.7 783.5 321.5 1,105.0 2,592.7
2017 850.4 639.7 26.6 1,516.7 809.6 333.3 1,142.9 2,659.6
2018 882.8 629.5 28.6 1,540.9 825.6 346.2 1,171.8 2,712.7
2019 931.2 650.3 28.6 1,610.1 842.8 349.5 1,192.2 2,802.3
2020 945.6 653.9 27.6 1,627.1 856.5 352.3 1,208.8 2,835.9
2021 908.7 646.9 28.1 1,583.7 886.6 354.5 1,241.2 2,824.9
2022 900.9 684.9 30.2 1,616.0 934.8 367.2 1,302.0 2,918.0
2023 (4) 912.3 680.5 30.9 1,623.8 963.0 388.6 1,351.6 2,975.3

(1) Establishments primarily engaged in initially underwriting insurance policies.
(2) Includes establishments engaged in underwriting annuities, life insurance and health and medical insurance policies.
(3) Includes claims adjusters, third-party administrators of insurance funds and other service personnel such as advisory and insurance ratemaking services.
(4) Preliminary.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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