US health insurance companies continued to dominate the ranking of the world’s largest insurers in terms of 2024 net premiums written (NPW), with UnitedHealth Group Inc. maintaining its top spot, reporting $308.81 billion in NPW, an increase of 6.2% year over year.
Our ranking of the world’s largest insurance companies by NPW and non-banking assets is based on research data from ratings agency AM Best and lists the top 25 insurers by both metrics in 2024.
Ranked by 2024 NPW, four of the top five insurers and five of the top 10 are US health insurers.
Centene Corporation retained its second position with $159.87 billion in premiums, up 6.9% from 2023.
Elevance Health, Inc., and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Group maintained their third and fourth rankings, respectively, with $144.17 billion and $128.81 billion in premiums.
The top 10 largely remained unchanged from 2023, with the exception of State Farm Group, which moved up to fifth from seventh as NPW rose 16.4% to $114.47 billion, marking the highest percentage increase among the top 10. Meanwhile, China Life Ins (Group) Co fell to seventh from fifth, with $110.02 billion in NPW.
Among the top 10 insurers, only three are non-U.S. domiciled, consisting of seventh-ranked China Life Insurance (Group) Co., eighth-ranked Allianz SE of Germany and 10th-ranked Axa SA of France.
Progressive Corp., ranked 12th, recorded the highest percentage increase among the top 25, with premiums rising 20.9% year over year to $74.42 billion.
Conversely, Nippon Life Insurance Co., ranked 24th, saw the largest percentage decline, down 10.9% to $44.95 billion in NPW.
Sally Rosen, Senior Director at AM Best, said, “AM Best has seen and expects to see continued growth in Medicare Advantage driven by the aging population; many are selecting a Medicare Advantage plan versus traditional fee-forservice Medicare.”
In terms of the world’s top 25 insurers ranked by 2024 net non-banking assets, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. took the top spot from Allianz SE, reporting assets of $1.15 trillion, up 7.8% year over year. Allianz fell to second from first in 2023, with $1.09 trillion in assets, up 6.2%.
The rest of the top five remained unchanged from the prior year, with China Life Insurance (Group) Co., Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., and Prudential Financial, Inc. ranking third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
Athene Holding Ltd., ranked 24th, recorded the largest percentage increase, with its non-banking assets rising 20.9% to $363.34 billion. Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. (ranked fourth) also posted a strong increase of 19.9%, reaching $984.67 billion in assets.
Japan’s National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives, ranked 21st, recorded the largest decline among the top 25, with assets falling 2.6% to $384.02 billion.
The post Health carriers continue to dominate list of world’s top insurers by 2024 NPW: AM Best appeared first on ReinsuranceNe.ws.
