Growth for U.S. life insurance application activity was flat at +1.3% Year-over-Year (YOY) in January 2025 compared to January 2024. Although the YOY growth is considered flat, January 2025 achieved the highest total volume of activity for any January on record. When comparing January 2025 to the same month in prior years, activity was up +6.1% compared to 2023 and up +15.3% compared to 2022. January 2025 also achieved the highest Month-over-Month (MOM) growth of any month on record, up +25.4% compared to December 2024.

Ages 0-30 and ages 71+ saw YOY growth in January, in the double digits for ages 71+, while ages 31-50 and 61-70 saw flat activity, and ages 51-60 saw declines. January YOY activity for ages 0-30 was up +5.8%, ages 31-50 flat at +0.5%, ages 51-60 down -4.3%, ages 61-70 flat at +0.3%, and ages 71+ up +10.1%.

January 2025 saw double-digit YOY growth across all face amounts, with activity at +16.8% for amounts up to and including $250K, +12.7% for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K, +24.0% for amounts over $500K up to and including $1M, +21.5% for amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M, +30.6% for amounts over $2.5M up to and including $5M, and +15.5% for amounts over $5M. When including age bands, all age band and face amount combinations saw double-digit YOY growth, with the exception of face amounts over $5M for ages 71+, which declined.

When examining activity by product type, January 2025 saw double-digit YOY growth for Term Life, declines for Whole Life and the double-digit declines for Universal Life. Term Life was up +11.1% YOY, Whole Life down -3.0%, and Universal Life down -21.2%. It is interesting to note that Universal Life has not seen YOY growth since November of 2023. When adding age bands to our analysis, Term Life saw YOY growth for all age bands, in the double digits for ages 0-50 and ages 61+. Whole Life saw double-digit YOY growth for ages 71+, and declines for all other age bands, with double-digit declines for ages 51-60. Universal Life saw YOY declines for all age bands, in the double digits for ages 31+.

Note: all analysis is based on data as provided to MIB by our members.