India is the world's top-ranked country in terms of life insurance density, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) latest report.
Life insurance density is calculated in terms of ratio of direct domestic premiums for life insurance to per capita GDP of a country.
WEF's Financial Development Report 2012 highlighted that India has been ranked 40th in terms of overall financial development of a country, but it stood better than many larger economies like the US, UK, Japan and China for life insurance density.
India is followed by China, Japan, US and UK in the top-five countries for life insurance density. In terms of non-life insurance density, India stood third after China and the US.
WEF's report measures the financial development of 62 countries across various segments of their financial systems and capital markets. The overall rankings are based on more than 120 variables spanning banking financial services, financial stability and non-banking financial services among other factors.
“Recent empirical research has found a strong positive relationship between insurance sector development and economic growth; this relationship holds quite strongly even in developing countries. Insurance also creates liquidity and facilitates the process of building economies of scale in investment, thereby improving overall financial efficiency,” the WEF report said.
The Financial Development Report 2012, the fifth edition since its inaugural publication in 2008.