How many New Zealanders have life insurance?

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-10-20 · Reviewed annually, or sooner if the rules it describes change.

Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.

On the Financial Services Council's (FSC) member data, 33% of New Zealanders had life insurance in 2025, down from 35% in 2024. The FSC's life insurance dataset splits products into life, trauma, income protection and total permanent disability, and the report does not spell out which of these the 33% counts (MartinJenkins for the FSC: Insurance and the New Zealand healthcare system, May 2026, retrieved 20 October 2026). The FSC is the life insurers' industry body, so this is an industry source, not a government census.

If you have seen "40% to 50% of New Zealanders have life insurance", we could not find that in a source. The sourced figures are 33% (FSC member dataset, 2025) and 34% (an FSC-commissioned survey of 2,005 adults in February 2025). Both are below it.

The headline figures

Measure	Figure	Date	Source
Share of New Zealanders with life insurance	33% (35% a year earlier)	2025	FSC life insurance member dataset
Life insurance covers in force	4.00 million	31 March 2026	FSC Spotlight on Life Insurance
Estimated NZ residents	5.35 million	Stats NZ Population Clock, 12 May 2026	FSC Spotlight on Life Insurance
Annual life insurance premiums	$3.31 billion (up 2.7%)	31 March 2026	FSC Spotlight on Life Insurance
Life premiums as a share of GDP	0.8% (OECD average 3.5%)	NZ 2021; others 2024	OECD, via MartinJenkins

Sources: MartinJenkins report; FSC: Life insurance cover softens as premium pressure builds, 8 June 2026; FSC Spotlight on Life Insurance, March 2026 (PDF). All retrieved 20 October 2026.

Covers are not people

Four million covers against 5.35 million residents does not mean three in four New Zealanders are insured. A cover is a policy, and one person holding life, trauma and income protection counts three times. That is why the FSC's own person-level figure is the 33% above, and why we do not divide one number by the other. The report does not say whether the 33% is a share of all residents or of adults, so we do not turn it into a head count. Our news story on the March 2026 figures goes into what falling cover numbers do to the average policy.

What people hold, and what they do not

The FSC's survey, run by CoreData in February 2025 with 2,005 adults representative of the New Zealand adult population, asked which insurances people held (FSC: Money & you, via MartinJenkins, Figure 13).

Insurance	Share of adults holding it
Car	75%
Contents	57%
Home	54%
Life	34%
Health/medical	33%
Travel	17%
Trauma/critical illness	15%
Income protection	12%
Pet	12%
Total and permanent disability	11%

New Zealanders were more likely to insure their possessions than themselves. Separately, the FSC member dataset charts the mix of life products held as a share of New Zealanders in 2025: life (term and accidental death) 16%, trauma/critical illness 9%, income protection 6% and total permanent disability 2%. In 2021 life was 15%. About 12% of life insurance holders get cover through employer group schemes. The four product shares happen to sum to 33%, but the FSC notes that members with several products are counted in each category, so do not read them as four separate groups of people.

How New Zealand compares

Life insurance premiums as a share of GDP are 0.8% for New Zealand against an OECD average of 3.5%, in the OECD's Global Insurance Market Trends 2025 as charted in the report. Read this with three caveats the report itself gives or implies.

The New Zealand figure uses 2021 data, while the other countries use 2024.
The report says the small size of the market is also a function of New Zealanders' reliance on ACC, which covers some risks that private life insurance covers elsewhere. ACC pays for injury, not illness.
Premiums divided by GDP measure how big the market is, not whether a given family has enough cover.

Our news story on the OECD cover gap tests the 0.8% against 3.5% comparison further.

What the figures say about underinsurance

The FSC describes a "challenge around access, affordability and cover levels" in its June 2026 commentary on the March 2026 data; that is the industry body's position, not a measured shortfall. The statistics above are consistent with thin cover, but none of them measures a shortfall in dollars against debts or income, and we found no sourced figure that does. We have therefore not published an underinsurance gap, an income-decile breakdown, or a claim about the average household. How much cover a household needs depends on its debts, income and dependants; see our guide to how much life insurance you need. For how long cover may need to last, see life expectancy in New Zealand.

Underwritten and guaranteed acceptance cover

Most life cover is underwritten: the insurer asks about your health and may offer terms, load the price, exclude something or decline. Guaranteed acceptance cover asks no health questions and holds back for the early years instead. Two Momentum Life products work this way:

Quick Life: ages 18 to 65, $50,000 to $300,000 per life, no health questions. For the first 2 years it does not pay for death from a pre-existing condition, or for suicide or intentional self-harm; if death is from a pre-existing condition in the first 24 months and no claim is payable, premiums are refunded. Premiums rise each year with age until 75.
Funeral Insurance: ages 40 to 75, $3,000 to $30,000, no health questions. For the first 24 months it pays only for accidental death; any other death in that window pays no benefit and premiums for that person are refunded. Total premiums can end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral.

Neither product accepts new applicants over 75. A healthy person can usually get more cover for less through fully underwritten cover from a licensed adviser. Our guide to what guaranteed acceptance is sets out who each approach suits, and the funeral insurance hub covers the funeral product. Momentum Life Limited holds an A.M. Best financial strength rating of B (Fair), affirmed on 11 February 2026, within A.M. Best's "Vulnerable" range (Momentum Life: Financial strength). See also our life insurance hub and the health insurance equivalent of this page.

How we gathered this

We read the FSC's June 2026 article, its March 2026 Spotlight one-pager and the MartinJenkins report on 20 October 2026, and quote only what they print. Percentages are as the sources round them. The FSC's data covers its member insurers, so it may not capture every policy sold in New Zealand, and its definitions (what counts as a cover, a person or an adult) are not fully stated in what we read. The FSC publishes these quarterly; this page is restated when a newer release changes a figure.

This is general information, not advice. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application; QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy through our link (how we are paid). Back to the statistics hub, or see causes of death.

If you are planning ahead for your own funeral costs

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Life cover See your price Ages 18–65 · $50k–$300k Funeral cover See your price Ages 40–75 · $3k–$30k

Want more than $300k or have questions? Talk to an adviser

Life cover: Conditions you already have aren't covered for the first 2 years (premiums refunded instead). Suicide isn't covered for the first 2 years, and a few conditions can be excluded permanently.

Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Insurer: Momentum Life Limited. Financial strength rating B (Fair) from AM Best, affirmed 11 February 2026; B ratings sit in AM Best's 'vulnerable' range. The rating scale is available for inspection at every Momentum Life office in New Zealand. What this means

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Opens Momentum Life's online application; its guidance only covers eligibility. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner. Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy. General information, not advice.

Adviser's view

On the Financial Services Council's member data, 33% of New Zealanders had life insurance in 2025, down from 35% in 2024, and life premiums are 0.8% of GDP against an OECD average of 3.5%. That points to thin cover, but it is an industry source, the NZ comparison uses an older year, and ACC does some of the work private cover does elsewhere. We found no sourced dollar figure for the underinsurance gap, so this page does not give one.

Henry Smith, Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). General information, not personalised financial advice.

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Life Insurance Statistics NZ: How Many Are Covered. www.quotehub.co.nz/statistics/life-insurance-coverage-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.

References

Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, Referral.