Applications for life insurance in North America declined 3.2% in September compared with the year earlier, according to the MIB Life Index released Friday by MIB Group Inc. of Westwood, Mass.
Third-quarter application activity lagged that of the 2003 quarter by 1.5%; this was the third straight year in which third-quarter activity was down from that of the prior year.
For the first nine months, U.S. and Canadian activity was off 1.4% and 0.3%, respectively, in what continues to be a relatively stable year for individually underwritten life insurance applications.
MIB Group Inc. supplies information services to the insurance industry. Its customers underwrite more than 95% of the premium dollars for individual life insurance issued in the United States and Canada.
