Increased premiums income

The income from the premiums to the insurance industry increased by 26 per cent from 1999 to 2003 in the OECD. Norwegian insurance companies almost doubled their premium incomes during the same period. A large increase for 2002 and 2003 is the main reason for the total increase.

The marked share of Norwegian insurance companies in the insurance industry in the OECD is beneath a half percent, and it has been quite stable during the period 1999 to 2003. All the Nordic countries had a marked share beneath 1 per cent. USA has the largest market share, with 43 per cent of the marked in the OECD.

Average insurance spending is measured by the average premium income per capita. This increased by 30 per cent form 1999 to 2003 in the OECD. The increase is mostly due to a large growth between 2002 and 2003, the average insurance spending per capita was relatively constant before 2002. As we can se from the figure, USA has a much larger average spending than the average of the OECD. Norway has a larger average insurance spending than the OECD in total, but a similar spending compared to the other Nordic countries. The Norwegian average is lower than the average in Sweden and Denmark.

The premium income as a share of the gross national product (GDP) is a measure of how important the insurance industry is to the national economy. In the OECD as a total, the insurance industry has grown by 1 percentage point from 1999 to 2003, and amounted to 10 per cent in 2003. In Norway this share was 5,7 per cent, and 5,9 per cent on average for the Nordic countries. As we can see from the figure, the share of insurance in the GDP has experienced a small growth during the period.

Tables:

• Table 1 Total life and non-life insurance premiums in OECD countries, USD. 1999-2003
• Table 2 Market share, direct gross premiums basis, OECD countries. 1999-2003
• Table 3 Average insurance spending per capita, USD. 1999-2003
• Table 4 Gross premiums to gross domestic product. 1999-2003. Per cent