Canadian life insurance application activity saw growth of +5.2% Year-over-Year (YOY) in February 2024. This is the 10th consecutive month that Canadian activity has seen YOY growth, which represents the longest period of contiguous YOY growth since before 2018. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, activity through February 2024 was also at growth, up +7.6% compared to February 2023. On a Month-Over-Month (MOM) basis, February 2024 activity grew by +10.4% compared to January 2024.

February 2024 saw flat Year-Over-Year (YOY) activity for ages 0-30, declines for ages 31-50, and growth for ages 51+, in the double digits for ages 61-70, and triple digits for ages 71+. Activity for ages 0-30 was flat at -0.9%, ages 31-50 down -1.7%, ages 51-60 up +2.2%, ages 61-70 up +33.1%, and ages 71+ up +155.2%.

February saw double-digit YOY growth for amounts up to and including $250K, flat activity for amounts over $2.5M up to and including $5M, and declines for all other amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $5M. When including age bands, ages 0-30 saw flat YOY activity for amounts up to and including $250K, declines for amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M, in the double digits for amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M, double-digit growth for amounts over $2.5M up to and including $5M, and double-digit declines for amounts over $5M. Ages 31-50 saw flat YOY activity for amounts over $500K up to and including $2.5M, and declines for all other amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $5M. Ages 51-60 saw double-digit YOY growth for amounts up to and including $250K, declines for amounts over $250K up to and including $1M, in the double digits for amounts over $500K up to and including $1M, growth for amounts over $1M up to and including $5M, in the double digits for amounts over $2.5M up to and including $5M, and double-digit declines for amounts over $5M. Ages 61-70 saw double-digit YOY growth for amounts up to and including $250K and for amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M, and double-digit declines for all other amounts. Ages 71+ saw double-digit YOY declines for amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M, and growth for all other amounts, in the triple digits for amounts up to and including $250K, and in the double digits for amounts over $500K up to and including $1M and for amounts over $2.5M up to and including $5M.

When examining activity patterns where a product type was submitted to MIB, Universal Life saw double-digit YOY growth in February 2024 while Whole Life saw growth and Term Life saw declines. When including age bands, Universal Life saw YOY growth for all age bands, in the double digits for ages 0-60, and in the triple digits for ages 61+. Whole Life saw YOY growth for all age bands, in the double digits for ages 61+. Term Life saw YOY declines for all age bands, in the double digits for ages 0-30 and ages 71+.

About 32% of total Life Index volume for Canada in February 2024 did not include a product type. We believe the vast majority of these submissions are for Life Insurance applications and have included them in the composite analysis presented in this report. Missing product type information can have a significant impact on the Canadian analysis. Growth varies when looking solely at submissions identified as Life Insurance products, with activity up +9.1% YOY for Canada in February 2024 and up +9.1% YTD.