How did the Corona epidemic become a catalyst for achieving better protection from the risk of death?

Risk protection - and especially death risk coverage - is the core value of life insurance, and to this day, the market has focused more on coverage that includes some type of savings, with a relatively small percentage of the sector's premiums coming from risk protection solutions. The many years of extremely low interest rates since the global financial crisis -2008 negatively affected sales of these products, and life insurance companies have switched to products such as Biometric Risk Coverage instead, and this is reflected in the declining share of savings products in relation to total life insurance premiums. To 81% in 2019 compared to 86% in 2008.

 

Excess Mortality data, which shows the increase in total deaths compared to the rates of previous years, reflects the significant impact of Covid-19 on the death rate, and the analysis is based on the latest available data for 2020, and it is expected that the actual number of deaths related to Covid-19 will be higher. Of the numbers reported due to factors such as underreporting and delays in reporting, in countries where deaths related to COVID-19 exceed the overall excess mortality rate, the positive impact of closures and other control measures such as a lower driver mortality rate is likely to lead to a lower overall rate. Excessive deaths, while deaths related to the epidemic tend to be towards the elderly, the working-age population has also been affected, and for example, in the United States, which has so far recorded the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 in the world, the age of 21% of The deceased was between 25 and 64 years old.

 

If there is a "bright spot" in the long term, it is that Covid-19 is expected to have an impact on increasing awareness of the value of insurance risk protection, especially with regard to mortality and health care needs. In support of this optimistic view, the Swiss Re survey conducted after the outbreak of the virus indicated an increasing trend of consumers towards obtaining relevant insurance protection. This should help families overcome their financial vulnerability in the face of shocks that will inevitably occur again in the future.