younger people

The memory of the dark, scary days of the COVID-19 pandemic might be fading but the lessons are apparently imprinted on younger generations, especially single mothers, who have an appreciation for mortality and life insurance, according to the latest LIMRA/Life Happens Insurance Barometer.

Although a record-high percentage of consumers (39%) say they intend to buy life insurance in the next year, younger people are driving the demand with 50% of millennial and 44% of Gen Z respondents wanting coverage, according to the survey, which is being released on opening day of the Life Insurance & Annuity Conference in Salt Lake City.

Alison Salka, head of LIMRA research, said the 10th annual survey showed a growing pool of younger people wanting life insurance.

“Younger generations, the millennials and Gen Z, are really starting to see the need,” Salka said. “It really presents an opportunity for the industry. … The majority of Gen Z is interested in life insurance. Only 40% of Gen Z told us that they own life insurance and about half of them report a need gap.”

The pandemic is likely to have instilled that awareness of mortality and the need for life insurance in younger people because it was a defining moment in their development.

“You have these younger people who are coming of age after or during a pandemic, during a volatile, interesting labor market,” Salka said. “It’s really heartening to see that so many of them recognize life insurance as a piece of their overall financial puzzle.”

Millennials are most concerned about burial and final expenses, with that being cited as a major reason by 52% of millennials, while only 35% of Gen Z cited it. The second largest reason for millennials is that their employer gave it to them.

Millennials were