Local life insurance industry’s total premiums surged past the ₱400 billion threshold for the first time in 2025, buoyed by record-high per-capita spending and shift in consumer behavior toward financial security.

Based on the report, the Insurance Commission (IC) disclosed to reporters last week, the life industry posted a 14.5-percent full-year growth to ₱403.2 billion in 2025 from ₱352 billion the previous year.

Insurance Commissioner Reynaldo A. Regalado told reporters last Friday, Jan. 30, that the main driver for the sustained growth was the “continuous sense of security that the insurance provides.”“When you look at spending, people’s propensity to spend is more on security than on purchases or retail,” Regalado said. 

Life insurance accounted for a bulk—80.8 percent—of all the insurance industry’s overall premiums in 2025.

Meanwhile, life insurers reduced the total benefits they paid to policyholders by nearly a quarter, to ₱121.9 billion last year from ₱160.3 billion in 2024.

As such, the industry’s net earnings reached ₱46.3 billion, 15.1 percent higher than the ₱40.2 billion it posted a year earlier.

Insurance penetration increased to 1.78 percent in 2025 from 1.67 percent in 2024, with life insurance contributing 1.44 percentage points (ppt) to the total.

According to Regalado, the government has been attempting to raise this sluggish growth in penetration. He admitted to facing difficulty addressing the “big” gap across the entire insurance industry.

Meanwhile, despite the successive economic slump in the second half of 2025, Regalado highlighted the upward trend.

Total assets of the life insurance firms reached ₱2.09 trillion, 8.5 percent higher than the ₱1.93 trillion in 2024.

Data from the IC showed that average per-person spending, or insurance density, reached a record ₱4,385 in 2025, up from ₱3,894 a year earlier.

While exact figures remained undisclosed, the life insurance sector’s total liabilities expanded by 9.2 percent. The industry’s net worth also grew by 10.6 percent to ₱310.7 billion from ₱281 billion.

Regalado said the continued rise in premiums and net worth mirrors the industry’s “positive momentum” as it enters 2026.

Looking ahead, Regalado expects the life insurance industry to continue expanding. “We’ll make the assessment after reviewing the other risks. What’s important is improving coverage—currently, 80 percent is on life, but we need greater focus on property,” he said.

“Last year was challenging due to the natural calamities that struck, but despite that, the figures indicate that we’re doing okay,” the commissioner noted.