Latin American insurance market grew nearly 20% in 2010

The insurance sector in Latin America is is on the rise, according to the 10th Latin American insurance market report by Mapfre.

Analysing 19 Latin American countries the report confirmed a 19.3% rise in premium volumes in 2010 compared to the previous year, reaching €91,370m.

All markets except for Venezuela reportedly achieved a nominal increase in their premium volumes. The greatest growth was experienced by Peru with 42.0%, Brazil with 39.4%, Chile with 36.6% and Uruguay with 35.1%.

Brazil is still the largest market in the region with a 42.5% share, while the report reflects that the eight largest insurance markets accumulated 95.1% of premiums.

This growth, the report pointed out, was favoured by the appreciation of most local currencies against the Euro. The major boost in 2010 came from the Life sector, which grew 33.6% compared to the previous year and achieved €36,597m overall. The performance of this was particularly noteworthy in Brazil, Mexico and Chile.

The preview for the first half of 2011 surprisingly reflects last year’s trend reversed and the Non-Life line recorded a larger growth (18.9%) than the Life Assurance line (16.8%). 

Puerto Rico still records the highest premium per capita, with €1,958 per capita. Health insurance for the low income population in Puerto Rico is managed by the private insurance sector and paid for by the government.

The figures for the rest of countries – for instance, Chile (€363/inhabitant and 4%), Brazil (€270/inhabitant and 3.4%) or Venezuela (€226/inhabitant and 3.6%) – are significantly below the figures of economies such as Europe (€1,403/inhabitant and 7.5%) and the US (€2,851/inhabitant and 8%).