There is much dialogue on the way insurance markets can contribute to poverty reduction by helping low-income individuals to preserve assets and mitigate the effects of financial shocks, thereby reducing vulnerability. There has also been significant effort to promote microinsurance to low-income adults. However, less has been written about the way insurance contributes indirectly to poverty reduction, i.e. by driving economic growth through risk management and the mobilisation of long-term savings, which can then be intermediated into economically productive assets.

This report takes stock of market development indicators across a sample of 15 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries – chosen to be representative of different regions and stages of market development – to unpack the role that insurance markets play in supporting economic growth. It outlines the transmission mechanisms and the preconditions to fulfilling this role, and how the contribution to growth evolves across different stages of insurance market development.