China's insurance sector sees premium income growth in January

BEIJING - China's insurance industry registered strong recovery in January 2021, seeing premium income up 11.2 percent year-on-year, official data showed.

Insurers in the country saw their premiums top 1 trillion yuan ($153.6 billion) in January, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

In breakdown, personal insurance premiums climbed 13.8 percent year-on-year to 881.6 billion yuan, and property insurance premiums stood at 127.8 billion yuan, down 4.3 percent over one year earlier, CBIRC data showed.

The rapid growth of personal insurance premiums ramped up the recovery of the industry. Premium income for health insurance soared 28.1 percent year-on-year in January to 120.6 billion yuan, as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed up consumers' health consciousness.

In the same period, premiums for life insurance and accident insurance also rose 11.9 percent and 10.2 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Last year, Chinese insurers' premium income totaled 4.5 trillion yuan, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, data from the commission showed.