MAPFRE Economics, the research arm of Spain-based global insurance group MAPFRE, has reported in its latest assessment of the European insurance sector that the region’s 20 largest insurers continued to increase premium income during 2025, although growth slowed compared with the previous year.
The research also indicates that international expansion has levelled off, while insurers strengthened their capital positions as market conditions became more supportive.
MAPFRE Economics found that Europe’s largest insurance groups generated combined premiums of €922.8 billion in 2025, an increase of 4.57% over the previous year. According to the company, the sector maintained stable growth despite ongoing economic uncertainty, underlining the resilience of the insurance market.
The company says the rise in premium income was supported by stronger investment performance resulting from the prevailing interest rate environment, alongside broadly similar growth across both the Life and Non-Life insurance businesses. Each segment recorded expansion of around 4.5%, based on MAPFRE Economics’ review of publicly available financial information from the leading European insurance groups.
Although premium volumes continued to increase, MAPFRE Economics notes that the pace of growth eased from 2024, when premiums rose by 10.28%. The company attributes the stronger performance in the previous year primarily to the Life insurance market, which benefited from higher interest rates.
The research suggests that insurers’ international footprint has reached a period of relative stability after several years of gradual expansion. Business generated outside companies’ domestic markets and their five largest overseas markets represented 13.57% of total premiums during 2025, little changed from the 13.69% recorded a year earlier.
According to MAPFRE Economics, international diversification remains significantly stronger in Non-Life insurance, where these wider markets account for 23.95% of premiums. In contrast, the Life insurance business continues to be concentrated mainly within insurers’ domestic markets, with only 6.28% of premiums generated from these additional territories.
The United States continued to be the principal market for international growth, accounting for more than 15% of premium income written outside insurers’ home countries, particularly within the Non-Life sector, the company says. MAPFRE Economics also identifies Italy as the largest overseas destination for Life insurance business among Europe’s leading insurers, while highlighting Asia as an increasingly important region due to its expanding middle-class population and long-term growth prospects.
MAPFRE Economics also reviewed the composition of insurers’ core business, defined as their domestic market together with their five largest international markets. France accounted for 26.58% of the combined core business of the major European insurance groups.
The United Kingdom remained the second-largest market with a share of 15.19%, although MAPFRE Economics says this continued to decline because of the effects of Brexit and Life insurance divestments. Italy represented 12.49% of the core business, followed by Germany at 11.37%, while Spain accounted for 1.6%.
The company’s analysis found that the combined solvency ratio of the 20 largest European insurers improved to 217.7% at the end of 2025, up from 208.4% a year earlier.
MAPFRE Economics attributes the stronger solvency position to a more favourable financial environment, with movements in interest rates and risk premiums supporting higher capital levels across the sector. The company says the improvement was evident across most of the insurers included in the analysis and was particularly notable among those with larger Life insurance operations, where solvency is more closely affected by changes in financial markets.
Commenting on the findings, Ricardo García, Director of Analysis, Sector Research and Regulation at MAPFRE Economics, said the 2025 results “show a European insurance system with a solid and resilient capital position, despite the uncertain economic environment.”
