With the demand for insurance growing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. life insurers saw year-over-year growth of 6.6% in direct premiums during the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year.

Individual and group direct premiums combined amounted to $52.26 billion in the first quarter of 2022, an increase from $49.01 billion from the prior-year period.

Direct group life premiums increased 5.3% to $11.24 billion from $10.67 billion in the first quarter of 2021. Direct individual life premiums increased 7% year over year to $41.02 billion from $38.34 billion.

Zurich leads the group charge

Among the top U.S. group life underwriters, Zurich Insurance Group AG recorded the highest growth in group life premiums at 112% to $227.3 million. The company jumped to 10th from the 19th spot a year earlier.

MetLife Inc., which remains the largest group life writer in the U.S., saw direct premiums rise by 9.4% year over year to $3.27 billion. In its Form 10-Q filing, the company attributed the growth in its group benefits business to "increased premiums from its participating contracts, which can fluctuate with claims experience, as well as our other core products and our voluntary business."

Protective makes headway in individual market

Among the top 10 largest individual life insurance underwriters, Protective Life Corp. saw the largest year-over-year change, growing its individual premiums by 43.3%, followed by Pacific Mutual Holding Co., whose individual premiums grew by 26.7%.

Prudential Financial Inc. was the only insurer among the top 10 largest individual life insurance underwriters to see a year-over-year decline in individual premiums, dropping 3.9% in the first quarter of 2022.

Per Prudential's Form 10-Q filing, the company's total annualized new business premiums in the individual life segment for the first quarter of 2022 decreased by $54 million compared to the prior-year period, mostly from lower third-party sales across variable life, term life and universal life products, primarily due to pricing and product actions.

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