Reply to Parliamentary Question on Statistics on Insurance Agents

QUESTION NO 562

NOTICE PAPER 305 OF 2021

FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

Date: For Parliament Sitting on 5 April 2021

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan, MP, Pioneer SMC

Question:

To ask the Prime Minister for each of the years from 2010 to 2020 (a) how many people in the labour force are working as insurance agents; and (b) what is the breakdown for such persons in terms of full-time employment, part-time employment, educational qualification, age, gender and nationality.

Answer by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Minister in charge of MAS:

1. The number of insurance agents – comprising life, general, and composite [1] – rose in the first half of the last decade, but has remained stable at around 19,000 since 2015. The breakdown by age, gender, and nationality over time, are available only for life and composite insurance agents. The majority of agents are below 40 years old. The gender balance is very even. Singapore Citizens make up about 90% of the agency force, with Permanent Residents making up most of the rest; the number of foreigners remains small at about 350.

2. The requested statistics for insurance agents are set out in the tables below.

Table 1: Number of life, general and composite insurance agents

Year [2]	Number of life and composite insurance agents	Number of general insurance agents [3]	Total number of life, general and composite insurance agents
2010	13,315	Not available	N.A
2011	13,304	Not available	N.A
2012	13,657	2,870	16,527
2013	13,872	3,456	17,328
2014	14,327	3,604	17,931
2015	14,967	4,073	19,040
2016	14,713	4,309	19,022
2017	15,082	3,964	19,046
2018	15,836	3,895	19,731
2019	15,066	3,905	18,971
2020	15,419	3,800	19,219

Table 2: Number of life and composite insurance agents by age

Year²	21 to 30 years old	31 to 40 years old	41 to 50 years old	51 to 60 years old	Above 60 years old	Total
2010	4,050	3,698	3,084	1,941	542	13,315
2011	4,052	3,645	2,990	2,014	603	13,304
2012	4,249	3,697	2,995	2,033	683	13,657
2013	4,476	3,687	2,937	2,034	738	13,872
2014	4,781	3,808	2,853	2,092	793	14,327
2015	5,328	3,950	2,750	2,061	878	14,967
2016	5,190	3,955	2,635	2,009	924	14,713
2017	5,559	3,926	2,584	2,007	1,006	15,082
2018	6,031	4,115	2,541	2,054	1,095	15,836
2019	5,249	4,111	2,447	2,065	1,194	15,066
2020	5,183	4,375	2,482	2,096	1,283	15,419

Table 3: Number of life and composite insurance agents by gender and nationality

Year²	Gender		Nationality			Total
Year²	Male	Female	Singapore Citizens	Permanent Residents	Foreigners	Total
2010	6,987	6,328	12,422	892	1	13,315
2011	6,878	6,426	12,428	875	1	13,304
2012	7,082	6,575	12,765	876	16	13,657
2013	7,167	6,705	12,920	891	61	13,872
2014	7,351	6,976	13,288	933	106	14,327
2015	7,685	7,282	13,793	1,034	140	14,967
2016	7,555	7,158	13,356	1,092	265	14,713
2017	7,754	7,328	13,574	1,229	279	15,082
2018	8,196	7,640	14,148	1,390	298	15,836
2019	7,660	7,406	13,313	1,410	343	15,066
2020	7,679	7,740	13,557	1,514	348	15,419

3. The latest statistics on general and composite insurance agents by age and gender is set out below [4] .

Table 4: Number of general and composite insurance agents by age

	Age				Total
	21 to 30 years old	31 to 40 years old	41 to 50 years old	Above 50 years old	Total
As at 3 March 2021	755	2,081	2,595	4,664	10,095

Table 5: Number of general and composite insurance agents by gender

	Gender		Total
	Male	Female
As at 3 March 2021	4,987	5,108	10,095

4. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) do not make a distinction between full-time or part-time insurance agents and do not collect information on academic qualifications. Life insurance agents must minimally have a GCE “A” level certificate or an International Baccalaureate Diploma qualification or a diploma awarded by a polytechnic in Singapore, or equivalent qualifications. General insurance agents are required to have at least 3 GCE “O” Level passes or equivalent. Life insurance agents have higher minimum academic qualification requirements than general insurance agents as life insurance products are typically more complex in nature.

* * *

[1] Agents who are both life and general insurance agents.

[2] The figures are as at 31 December of each respective year.

[3] The General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) does not have figures for general insurance agents for 2010 and 2011.

[4] The statistics in Tables 4 and 5 comprise of general insurance agents that are also life insurance agents. GIA is not able to generate statistics solely for general insurance agents due to system constraints.

日期：2024/07/18点击：10