Buying an insurance policy is not a priority for Romanians, therefore the percentage of people who have insurance is almost half the region’s average, 26%. Moreover, it is one quarter of the Austrian and Czech average, 65%.
“The much lower living standards, the significantly lower income per capita compared with the European average and the [low] awareness of the importance and benefits of insurance explains the low number of people who have an insurance policy,” says Viorel Vasile, managing partner of insurance broker Safety Broker.
Slovenia has the highest rate of insured people in the entire region, 86%. The lowest such rate can be found in Bulgaria and Ukraine, 7% and 4%.
The percentage of insured people remains the same as before the crisis on average.
The ten largest insurers on the local market had more than 11 million insurance contracts at the end of September, 2.3 million of which signed for life and health insurance policies. Auto and home insurance policies account for most of the insurance contracts, according to the data of National Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies of Romania (UNSAR).
The actual number of people who have insurance is lower, though, because some have two or more policies. Moreover, the data also include policies bought by corporate customers and not only individuals.
Astra signed the highest number of contracts (3.7 million), followed by Omniasig (2.3 million).
A segment with a high growth potential for insurers is the young people aged up to 30 years. Whereas only 26% of such people had a personal insurance policy and almost 40% a general insurance policy in Europe, about 45% of Romania’s population up to 30 years of age had a general or personal insurance policy or a private pension contract, according to GfK.
The report also shows that most insurance contracts were auto liability and comprehensive auto policies; more than one third of the young population of Central and Eastern Europe has such policies.
Experts in the industry, however, do not think the auto insurance market has reached maturity and will continue to grow once the living standards improve and the number of cars sold increases.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)