Microinsurance Network statistics point to a market that is expanding quickly but still reaches only a minority of people who could benefit from protection. The Network’s 2024 Landscape reports 344 million people covered across 37 countries in 2023, with USD 6.2 billion in written premiums. Its figures also show a large gap between current coverage and the estimated market of almost 3 billion people.
Contents
- Scale of the network and studies
- Coverage and premiums
- Products, customers, and growth
- Regional, gender, and payment patterns
- Climate, agriculture, and regulation
- The protection gap
- Network activity and knowledge sharing
Scale of the network and studies
The Microinsurance Network describes its membership as a global community active in more than 70 countries. Its membership page also describes more than 500 experts and practitioners in the community. These figures describe the Network’s reach and membership, rather than the number of people insured.
The 2024 Landscape study covered 294 insurers and 985 microinsurance products offered in 2023. The study spanned 37 countries across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific, according to the Microinsurance Network 2025 press release. The Network’s 2024 myths article likewise says the survey covered 37 countries, compared with 36 in 2023.
The previous edition provides a useful historical comparison. The Microinsurance Network 2024 press release says the 2023 study covered 294 insurers, 1,040 products, and 36 countries. Those products covered an estimated 330 million individuals. The same release says that coverage represented up to 11.5% of the population that could benefit from microinsurance.
These study totals should be read with their measurement periods. The 2024 Landscape figures describe products and people in 2023, while the earlier release describes the 2023 study and its 2022 measurement context. Product counts also differ between the reported editions, so they should not be treated as a single uninterrupted product series.
Coverage and premiums
The core 2023 market measures are 344 million people covered and USD 6.2 billion in written premiums across 37 countries. The Microinsurance Network 2024 Landscape page says the number of people covered increased by 70% over the previous three years. The Network’s 2025 press release repeats the 70% increase and says premiums collected rose by 50% since 2021.
The Microinsurance Network 2024 myths article gives a year-over-year comparison: coverage rose from 331 million people in 2022 to around 344 million in 2023. It also reports gross written premiums of USD 5.8 billion in 2022 and USD 6.2 billion in 2023. These are reported market figures; the supplied source record does not independently verify the legacy figures.
| Measure | Earlier reported figure | 2023 reported figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| People covered | 331 million in 2022 | Around 344 million | Microinsurance Network 2024 myths article |
| Gross or written premiums | USD 5.8 billion in 2022 | USD 6.2 billion | Microinsurance Network 2024 myths article |
| Countries in survey | 36 in 2023 edition | 37 in 2024 edition | Microinsurance Network 2024 myths article |
The earlier market snapshot was also substantial. The Microinsurance Network 2024 press release valued the market across 36 countries at USD 41.4 billion and said USD 5.8 billion, or 15% of that market by value, had been captured. The same release estimated 330 million people covered and an 88.5% protection gap. The different market-value and coverage measures reflect the scope and terminology of the relevant study, so they should not be combined into a new estimate.
Products, customers, and growth
The 2024 myths article says the study tracks 985 products. It reports a median of more than 10,000 customers per microinsurance product and annual premiums per product of nearly USD 120,000. Credit life and funeral insurance were reported to serve approximately 29,000 individuals per product.
The same source says most products require three to four years to scale. After scaling, products can generate close to USD 500,000 in annual premiums. This distinction matters when interpreting averages or medians: a product portfolio can contain many smaller or newer products alongside a smaller number of scaled offerings.
The 2025 press release identifies 112 products offering climate-related protection, reaching 42 million people. These products are a subset of the 985 products reported for 2023, not an additional market total. Their reported reach shows that climate-related coverage is already present at meaningful scale within the broader microinsurance landscape.
The Network’s membership and study numbers describe different parts of the sector. More than 500 experts and practitioners are associated with the community, while 294 insurers were included in the 2025 study. The former is a network-community measure; the latter is a study-participant count.
Regional, gender, and payment patterns
The Microinsurance Network 2024 myths article says nearly 80% of customers were in the Asia-Pacific region. This is a customer-distribution figure for the reported study, not a claim that 80% of all potential customers live there.
Gender participation was close to balanced in the reported 2023 data. Around 48% of policyholders were women, and around 49% of all people covered were women, according to the same article. The 2025 press release also reports that 48% of microinsurance policyholders were women.
The Africa figures show movement in payment channels. The share of products relying on cash payments fell from 22% in 2022 to 17% in 2023. Over the same period, the share of microinsurance products using mobile money rose from 12% to around 15%. These percentages describe products in Africa, not the share of customers or premium volume.
Regional activity also appears in the Microinsurance Network 2024 annual report. In 2023, 18 regional events took place in Latin America and the Caribbean, with seven knowledge products, two case briefs, and two regional research projects launched. Nine new institutional members joined that region. In Africa, eight events were organised by members or partners, and eight new institutional members joined.
Climate, agriculture, and regulation
Climate-related protection accounted for 112 products reaching 42 million people in the 2023 study, according to the Microinsurance Network 2025 press release. The measure identifies the number of products and people reached; it does not state the value of climate-related premiums or the share of claims.
Agriculture insurance has a notable role for subsidies. The Microinsurance Network 2024 myths article says around 58% of agriculture insurance products receive some subsidy. The 2025 press release reports the same 58% figure. Because the statistic concerns products receiving some subsidy, it should not be interpreted as the percentage of premium value subsidised.
The regulatory environment has expanded across multiple jurisdictions. The 2024 myths article says at least 40 regulators across 53 countries and territories had launched enabling microinsurance regulations by 2024. It also says regulators in 16 markets were developing regulations for microinsurance. These counts measure regulatory activity, not the number of countries with identical rules.
The protection gap
The reported market estimate is almost 3 billion people in the surveyed countries, with an estimated premium opportunity of around USD 41 billion, according to the Microinsurance Network 2024 myths article. The 2025 press release repeats both estimates and says only 12% of those almost 3 billion people are currently covered.
The 2024 Landscape page uses a different summary of the gap, saying nine out of 10 people globally remain unprotected. The 2024 annual report says close to 90% still remained without protection, while the 2024 press release reports an 88.5% gap for the 2023 study’s target population. These statements are broadly related but use different populations and rounding. They should be retained as source-reported measures rather than converted into one precise global percentage.
The earlier 2023 study’s coverage estimate was around 330 million individuals, equal to 11.5% of the target population, according to the Microinsurance Network 2024 annual report. That report’s figure is specific to the study population and period. It is not evidence that exactly 11.5% of the world’s population had microinsurance.
Network activity and knowledge sharing
The Microinsurance Network’s 2024 annual report records 12 editions of the Network Exchange newsletter in 2023 and 7,630 subscribers, with subscriber count up 20%. It also records four press releases, 17 media mentions, 15 media stories on the Landscape study, and three Executive Director interviews or quotes.
Digital engagement increased during the same reporting year. LinkedIn followers were up 19.54%, LinkedIn engagement rose 16%, Twitter followers increased 3.71%, and link clicks increased 66.7%, according to the annual report. These are year-specific Network communication metrics, not insurance-market growth rates.
The report also records four FIDES IIWG meetings in 2023. A business practice group had 31 active members and six meetings, while another had 24 active members and six meetings. These participation figures help describe the Network’s professional exchange activity.
The 2022 activity figures, reported in the Microinsurance Network 2024 annual report, include four country reports or workshops in Latin America and the Caribbean, 15 knowledge products, and seven case briefs. A regional public-private seminar in Lima had 135 participants: 97 supervisors and 29 industry representatives, with participants from 19 jurisdictions. Five FIDES Inclusive Working Group meetings were held.
The same report says the Network Exchange newsletter had more than 6,100 subscribers in 2022 and subscriber count increased 23.4%. It records five scholarships for the ILO Academy, LinkedIn followers up 38%, LinkedIn impressions up more than 300%, and LinkedIn posts up 66%. Twitter engagement rose 2.5%, Twitter followers rose 4.6%, and Twitter profile visits rose 240%. Facebook likes increased 3.1%, while Facebook post clicks increased 4.6%.
Member engagement in 2022 included 82 one-to-one member calls, 13 members interviewed for a mid-term evaluation, 105 multilingual community-management platform users engaged, and 40 members involved in business practice groups, according to the annual report. The Network also welcomed 21 new institutional members in 2023, while the 2022 regional figures record nine new institutional members in Latin America and the Caribbean and eight in Africa.