Developing Insurance Markets : The Insurance Sector’s Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals
Insurance can play a significant role in helping countries achieve the UN SDGs in terms of economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection. This can be achieved through the risk transfer mechanisms of households, businesses, and the...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/560821632197166715/The-Insurance-Sector-s-Contribution-to-the-Sustainable-Development-Goals-SDGs http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36353 |
| Summary: | Insurance can play a significant role in
helping countries achieve the UN SDGs in terms of economic
growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection. This
can be achieved through the risk transfer mechanisms of
households, businesses, and the public sector. The paper has
a twofold purpose. First, to help regulators and insurance
policymakers in emerging markets make the case for
supporting insurance market development through drawing more
attention to contribution the sector can make to achieving
national SDGs. Secondly, to help investors, donors,
international organizations focus their insurance market
development efforts in countries where the sector has the
maximum potential to contribute to the achievement of SDGs.
This paper considers the role of insurance companies as
underwriters facilitating risk transfer, as investors and
asset managers and as corporate citizens and employers. The
underwriting dimension is currently the most significant but
all three have a role to play in supporting the SDGs. The
paper also discusses how insurance can contribute more to
these goals, including through targeted interventions in
countries where conditions for right for insurance market
development and SGD targets will need greater support to be
met. Countries were screened for performance vs. the
selected SDGs, by the potential for insurance sector
development, as well as for minimum necessary enabling
conditions for market growth. The paper concludes that the
role of insurance has been somewhat overlooked in the
context of the SDGs and that this is largely because the
current indicators largely do not capture metrics relating
to insurance. To be able to better assess the role of
insurance and motivate the industry to contribute more to
the SDGs, more consistent and disaggregated data collection
on the following is recommended: lines of business; invested
assets; gender disaggregated data. The UN, governments and
the insurance industry are also encouraged to put greater
emphasis on developing the sector as a means to achieving
the SDGs. |
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