Ownership of life, term insurance lower among women compared to men: Survey

The number of women with life and term insurance policies is lower as compared to men in urban India, according to a survey.

The 'India Protection Quotient' survey, conducted by Max Life and Kantar IMRB, said while about 59 per cent of women as against 68 per cent men in urban India own life insurance policies, only 19 per cent women are term insurance owners in comparison to 22 per cent men.

The survey covered around 4,500 respondents across the country's 15 top cities having with an average income of Rs 2 lakh per annum and an age group of 25-55 years.

 

Only about 44 per cent of the youth are aware of term insurance and just 17 per cent own it, added the survey.

It gave cities ratings between 0 and 100 based on the awareness and ownership of life insurance, level of preparedness for future uncertainties and the degree of preference for pure protection plans, among other things.

Among the cities surveyed, nearly 43 per cent people in Ludhiana, Punjab, own life insurance, it said.

As per the survey, the industrial city of Punjab stood at the bottom with a protection quotient of 21, far lower than the national average of 35 for urban India.

The Protection Quotient of 21 of Ludhiana ranks the city lowest on the scale in comparison to other cities such as Lucknow, Patna, Bhopal, Jaipur, he said.

Additionally, with a low knowledge index score of only 8, majority of the citizens of Ludhiana were unaware of insurance as a category than the country as a whole (knowledge index score of 39), as per the survey.