Pacific Life, Nationwide, and Prudential made big moves up the life insurance new premium charts during the first quarter, LIMRA reported Wednesday.
Overall, individual life insurance new annualized premium improved 8% year over year to $3.94 billion in the first quarter, according to LIMRA’s U.S. Life Insurance Sales Survey, which represents 80% of the U.S. life insurance market.
The total number of policies sold increased 1% in the first quarter of 2025, compared with the prior year’s results.
The new premium was not distributed evenly, however. Pacific Life made one of the biggest moves, with a 38% year-over-year increase in new premium to take over the top spot. PacLife finished 2024 in third place for the year.
Likewise, Nationwide (up 47%) and Prudential (up 25%) saw big year-over-year increases during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual, which finished the first quarter 2024 and the full year 2024 as the leader in life premium, slipped to second in Q1 with a year-over-year decrease of 4%.
Economic conditions are driving increasing interest in the stability and flexibility of life insurance, said John Carroll, senior vice president, head of Life and Annuities, LIMRA and LOMA
“Retail life insurance premium growth, driven by indexed and variable universal life product sales, was extremely strong in the first quarter. Persistent inflation and higher equity market volatility drove interest in permanent life insurance,” he said. “Amid the increased availability of capital through private equity investment and reinsurance, coupled with advanced technologies and product innovation, LIMRA predicts continued growth for the life insurance industry in 2025.”