The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) announced that North America’s pet insurance sector exceeded $2.83 billion USD at year end 2021, and industry growth more than doubled over the past four years (2018 – 2021).
Today’s release of NAPHIA’s 2022 State of the Industry Report revealed a number of significant industry milestones, including a record $2.837 billion USD in total in-force premiums in 2021 (up over 30.5% from $2.175 billion USD in 2020) and over 4.41 million insured pets across North America (up 27.7% from over 3.45 million pets insured in 2020).
“The societal and behavioral changes we are experiencing around our relationships with pets have contributed greatly to an unprecedented period of growth for our industry,” said Kristen Lynch, Executive Director of NAPHIA. “A record number of household pet adoptions and purchases during the pandemic, combined with continued work-from-home arrangements, and pet owners’ desire to mitigate unexpected veterinary costs have contributed to even higher growth rates in the past several years.”
The 2021 results show total premium volume* in the U.S. amounted to $2.6 billion USD, a 30.4% annual increase over 2020. In Canada, total premium volume* totalled $313.4 million CAD, an increase of 28.1% over the previous year.
Rick Faucher, President of NAPHIA’s Board of Directors, noted that with approximately 4.4 million pets currently insured, and a total potential market of about 175 million North American pets, there is still considerable room for continued industry growth.
“2021 marked the seventh consecutive year where the pet insurance industry experienced double-digit growth,” said Faucher. “While pet insurance penetration rates have increased to approximately 2.48% in the U.S. and 3.10% in Canada, we recognize that as an industry we’ve still only captured a small portion of the potential market and we’re excited by the potential for sustained, long-term growth.”
* As reported by NAPHIA
Market Overviews:
United States
- $2.591 billion USD – total premium volume
- 3,979,282 – total number of pets insured at YE 2021 – a 28.3 increase since 2020
- largest share of insured pets reside in California (19.3%), New York (8.4%) and Florida (6.1%)
- 81.7% of insured pets were dogs versus 18.3% cats
- the average accident and illness premium for dogs was $583.91/year or $48.66/month (figures in USD)
- the average accident and illness premium for cats was $342.84/year or $28.57/month (figures in USD)
Canada
- $246 million USD – total premium volume ($313.4 million CAD)
- 432,533 – total number of pets insured at YE 2021 – a 22.7% increase since 2020
- largest share of insured pets reside in Ontario (38.9%), British Columbia (20.3%) and Alberta (18.9%)
- 77.5% of insured pets were dogs versus 22.5% cats
- the average accident and illness premium for dogs was $827.55/year or $68.96/month (figures in CAD)
- the average accident and illness premium for cats was $426.93/year or $35.58/month (figures in CAD)
About the NAPHIA State of the Industry Report
Since 2010, NAPHIA’s State of the Industry Report has been published using data compiled, aggregated and validated by the global multinational risk management and advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. NAPHIA members and report participants represent approximately 99% of all pet health insurance coverage in effect in North America.
About NAPHIA
The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) is comprised of reputable pet health insurance organizations from across the United States and Canada. As a coalition, NAPHIA works to advance and grow the pet insurance industry and marketplace through proactive research, data sharing, benchmarking initiatives, advocacy efforts, strategic partnerships, resource-sharing and the dissemination of information to collaboratively address challenges and opportunities.