Life Insurance Sales Keep Growing in 2026: What the Numbers Show

Original article: LIMRA: U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Continue Growth Trend in the Second Quarter (LIMRA, August 26, 2026)

Every quarter, the industry research group LIMRA tracks how much life insurance Americans are buying. The latest numbers, covering the second quarter of 2026, show steady growth, plus a few shifts worth knowing about for anyone shopping for coverage.

The Headlines

• More people are buying. The number of individual policies sold rose 8% compared with a year earlier, while total new premium rose about 3% to roughly $4.75 billion.
• Coming off a record year. In 2025, new individual life premium topped $17.5 billion, a record and up 10% from 2024. LIMRA expected more measured growth in 2026.
• Term life is growing. New term premium rose 6% in the second quarter, to about $824 million, and the number of term policies sold rose 5%. LIMRA credited online and digital term platforms for much of the growth.
• Whole life is still the biggest category, at about 37% of new premium, up 9% year over year. LIMRA has pointed to final expense (small burial-type policies) as a main driver of whole life growth.
• Indexed universal life (IUL) cooled off. IUL premium fell 9%, its first decline since 2023, after jumping 31% the year before.

What It Means for Coverage Shoppers

Policy counts growing faster than premium is a good sign. The trend suggests more people are getting covered, often with simpler, more affordable policies, instead of a few people buying very large ones.

Term life is still the best starting point for most families. Term coverage is the most affordable way to protect income during the years a family depends on it most, such as while paying off a mortgage or raising children. More detail is in Term Life vs. Whole Life.

Slow down when a complex policy is on the table. Products like IUL and variable universal life can make sense in some situations, but they have more moving parts: fees, caps, market exposure and projections that aren’t guaranteed. Ask what’s guaranteed, what isn’t and what happens if returns come in lower than the illustration. Unclear answers are a warning sign.

The Bottom Line

More Americans are protecting their families, and that’s good news. For anyone ready to get coverage or check whether existing coverage is enough, the guide How Much Life Insurance Is Really Needed? is a good starting point, or contact us to run the numbers.

Read the original articles: LIMRA: Life insurance sales continue growth in the second quarter · LIMRA: Life insurance sales show strong first quarter growth
2025 annual figures from LIMRA as reported by Reinsurance News. Figures are rounded, and LIMRA sometimes revises preliminary numbers. This post is for general education and isn’t personalized financial advice.