{"id":88226,"date":"2020-02-06T15:40:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T15:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finder.com\/uk\/?p=88226"},"modified":"2025-10-28T15:43:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T15:43:49","slug":"life-insurance-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finder.com\/uk\/life-insurance\/life-insurance-statistics","title":{"rendered":"Life insurance statistics UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life insurance<\/a> plays an important role in planning for your family\u2019s financial future. We explored the latest statistics to find out how prepared the UK is.<\/p>

Life insurance statistics UK: Highlights<\/h3>
  • It\u2019s estimated that 35% of UK adults have life insurance, around 18.8 million people.<\/li>
  • \u00a34.84 billion was paid out in life insurance, income protection and critical illness claims in 2023.<\/li>
  • The average value of a life insurance claim paid out in 2023 was \u00a380,403 \t<\/li>
  • 20.4 million policies were taken out in 2021 \u2013 1.5% less than in 2020 (20.7 million).<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/article>

    How many people have life insurance?<\/h3>

    It\u2019s estimated that 35% of the adult population in the UK have life insurance, which equates to around 18.8 million people. People are not restricted to one life insurance policy or income protection policy.<\/p>

    Life insurance falls under the broader category of protection insurance. Protection insurance includes life insurance but also other types of insurance, such as income protection and serious illness insurance.<\/p>

    Life insurance payouts in the UK<\/h3>

    Each policy taken out is unique \u2013 but how often do insurers typically pay out for life insurance and how much?<\/p>

    • \u00a34.85 billion was paid out in life insurance, income protection and critical illness claims in 2023.<\/li>
    • 275,000 payouts were made to customers in 2023. \t<\/li>
    • The average life insurance payout was \u00a380,403 while the average critical insurance payout was \u00a368,354.<\/li><\/ul>

      Average payout and total claims by type of insurance<\/h3>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
      Type of policy<\/th>\n Number of claims paid<\/th>\n Average value of claims paid<\/th>\n Percentage of claims paid<\/th>\n <\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
      Whole of life<\/td>\n 213,064<\/td>\n \u00a34,054<\/td>\n 99.99%<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
      Life insurance<\/td>\n 53,105<\/td>\n \u00a373,578<\/td>\n 96.90%<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
      Income protection<\/td>\n 22,542<\/td>\n \u00a321,913<\/td>\n 84.40%<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
      Critical illness<\/td>\n 19,218<\/td>\n \u00a366,296<\/td>\n 91.60%<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
      Total permanent disability<\/td>\n 342<\/td>\n \u00a370,414<\/td>\n 70.30%<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
      TOTAL<\/td>\n 308,270<\/td>\n \/<\/td>\n 97.50%<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n \n\n\n