Insurance market in Turkey - statistics & facts
Even though the insurance business in Turkey started emerging in the late 19th century, it became the second-largest segment of the Turkish financial system. The sector’s total assets reached over 780 billion Turkish lira by the end of 2022. At the same time, both the export and import values of the insurance and pension services peaked in 2022, indicating that the market is expanding not only locally but also internationally.
The Turkish insurance market demonstrated positive developments in terms of total assets, premiums earned, and compensations paid in recent years. Even with the high inflation rate and the currency crisis, the insurance sector appears to keep its importance in the country.
Life versus non-life insurance in Turkey
The market can be broken down into two main categories: life and non-life (or general) insurance. Non-life insurance covers non-life assets, such as houses, vehicles, health, events, travel, and more, and compensates for the financial losses due to damage to an asset, whereas life insurance pays out a sum of money upon the death of the insured. In Turkey, the premium incomes of these two main segments increased year-on-year basis and achieved a record value of over 235 billion Turkish lira in 2022. That year, non-life insurance generated significantly higher premiums than life insurance, namely 204.3 billion Turkish lira. When it comes to claims, non-life insurance companies paid out a total of 80.8 billion Turkish lira in compensation. Although the total amount compensated to life insurance policyholders was considerably lower, the value of claims paid by the life insurance companies has been increasing steadily over the years.Leading companies in the insurance market
As of 2022, 70 companies operated in the insurance, reinsurance, and pension market in Turkey. In the past decade, there has been a growing inflow of foreign capital into the Turkish insurance sector. In particular, the foreign life insurance companies dominated the Turkish market by holding a share of 57.5 percent in 2021. Yet, the leading insurance group was Turkish-based Türkiye Sigorta AS, based on gross written premiums of 11.7 billion Turkish lira in 2021. Türkiye Sigorta only entered the Turkish insurance market in 2020. It was formed as a merger of public insurance companies Ziraat Sigorta A.Ş., Halk Sigorta A.Ş, and Güneş Sigorta A.Ş which operated under the Turkey Wealth Fund owned by the Turkish government.The Turkish insurance market demonstrated positive developments in terms of total assets, premiums earned, and compensations paid in recent years. Even with the high inflation rate and the currency crisis, the insurance sector appears to keep its importance in the country.
