Global reinsurer Swiss Re recently published its “World Insurance in 2022” report in which it ranked Lebanon 86^th in the world (compared to the 80^th place it occupied in the previous year) and 12^th in the MENA region in terms of insurance penetration (being the ratio of insurance premiums to GDP) in the year 2022. More particularly, Lebanon’s insurance penetration rate stood at 0.4% in 2022 (compared to 1.0% in 2021), preceded by Morocco (global rank: 37; penetration rate: 3.9%), the U.A.E. (global rank: 46; penetration rate: 2.6%), and Tunisia (global rank: 56; penetration rate: 2.2%), among others. Globally, the Cayman Islands ranked first in terms of insurance penetration in the world in 2022 with a penetration rate of 23.2%, followed by Macao (20.9%), Hong Kong (19.0%), the United States (11.6%) and Taiwan (11.4%).

In absolute terms, Lebanon’s total insurance premiums came in just below $2.05 billion in 2022, up from $1.71 billion a year before, registering as such a nominal annual growth rate of 20.0% and an inflation adjusted y-o-y drop of 55.8%. Lebanon ranked 61^st in the world (losing 5 places from the 66^th position it held in 2021) and 6^th in the MENA region. Lebanon trailed Saudi Arabia (global rank: 35; insurance premiums: $14.23 billion), the U.A.E. (global rank: 36; insurance premiums: $13.26 billion), Morocco (global rank: 48; insurance premiums $5.24 billion), Iran (global rank: 52; insurance premiums: $4.26 billion), and Egypt (global rank: 55; insurance premiums $3.18 billion) in the region. Globally, the United States topped the list of covered countries in terms of total insurance premiums booked in 2022 (just below $2.96 trillion), accounting for 43.60% of world total insurance premiums, followed, and at quite a distance, by China ($697.81 billion <10.30%>) and the United Kingdom ($363.01 billion <5.40%>).