Studies on life insurance use dates back to Heubner (1942) who postulated that human life value has certain qualitative
aspects that gives rise to its economic value. Hakansson’s (1969) study indicates that demand for life insurance varies
inversely with the wealth of the individuals. Lewis (1989) found out that the number of dependents has an influence on
the demand for life insurance. Headen and Lee (1974) studied the effects of financial market behavior and consumer
expectations on purchase of ordinary life insurance and concluded that life insurance demand is inelastic and positively
affected by change in consumer sentiments; interest rates playing a role in the short run as well as in the long run. The
study by Truett et al. (1990) discussed the growth pattern of life insurance consumption in Mexico and United States in
a comparative framework, during the period 1964 to 1984. They concluded the existence of higher income inelasticity
of demand for life insurance in Mexico with low income levels. Age, education and income were significant factors
affecting demand for life insurance in both countries. The study by Browne et al. (1993) based on 45 countries for two
separate time periods (1980 and 1987) concluded that income and social security expenditures are significant
determinants of insurance demand, however, inflation has a negative correlation. Black and Skipper (2000), is of
opinion that life insurance becomes the mechanism to ensure a continuous stream of income to the beneficiaries. The
two main services provided by life insurance: income replacement for premature death and long-term savings
instruments, are the starting point for Beck et al. (2003). The studies by Ward et al. (2003) and Beck et al. (2003)
evolves around the issue of finding the cause behind variations in life insurance consumption across countries. After
almost three decades of empirical work in this direction, they are of the opinion that “it is still hard to explain the
anomalous behavior of Asian countries with higher savings rate, large and growing population, relatively low provision
for pensions or other security and a sound capital market but comparatively low per-capita consumption of insurance.
Except Japan, most of the Asian countries have low density and penetration figures”. Raman and Gayatri (2004) have
observed the customers’ awareness towards insurance companies. They found that 53% of the respondents belong to the
age group below 30, 24% to the age group 31-40, 2% belong to the age group of 41-50 and the rest to the age group of
‘above 50’. Further they also observed that a large percentage of the insured respondents (32%) are professionals, and
56% of the respondents are married. They have also found that 52% of the respondents have taken a policy to cover life
risk, 44% of them to get tax advantage and the reaming to invest for growth of capital. Zietz (2003) and Hussels et al.
(2005) has reviewed the efforts of researchers to explain consumer behavior concerning the purchase of life insurance
for almost 50 years. The review of earlier studies concludes that bulk of the empirical studies undertaken finds a
positive association between increase in savings behavior, financial services industry and demand for life insurance.
There are two detailed studies on the determinants of life insurance demand, one taking into consideration only the
Asian countries and the other based on 68 economies. Chowdhury, Rahman and Afza (2007) have found in a survey
that a good number of people are choosing insurance companies with a view to earn higher return on deposited money.
Rajkumari (2007) in her study undertaken to identify the customers' attitude towards purchase of insurance products
concludes that there is a low level of awareness about insurance products among customers in India. Fatima Alinvi
(2008) suggests that customers change their preferences according to their life circumstances and while certain preferences are well-defined others can be inconsistent. In an increasingly competitive environment, where insurance
companies fight for the same customers, having a customer-oriented culture is extremely important not only to retain
customers but also to acquire new ones.