Recovering from last year's stagnation, global property-casualty business grew by 1.5 percent, according to a study by Swiss Re.
But that figure masked a sharp divergence in performance between the industrialized world, which saw a growth of .6 percent, and the 11 percent delivered by emerging markets.
"In the industrialized world, downward pressure on rates, particularly in catastrophe lines, was the salient feature and could not be offset by higher demand," the Zurich-based company said in a statement.
Overall, the value of insurance premiums written worldwide grew by 5 percent last year, compared with 2005, to total $3.7 trillion, driven by strong expansion in life insurance, the survey showed.
The figure represented 7.7 percent of global gross domestic product, unchanged from 2005, according to the study.
"The performance of the insurance industry has further improved in terms of capitalization and profitability," the reinsurer said.
Life and non-life premiums increased against the prior year by 7.7 pct and 1.5 pct respectively.
Wealth accumulation products drove growth in the life insurance sector with regulatory changes, tax incentives and a preference for unit-linked products in booming stock markets, the main contributors.
Real premium growth in emerging markets of 16 percent continued to outpace the growth of 4 percent experienced in industrialized countries.
The latter spent about 9 percent of GDP on insurance in 2006, while in emerging markets it varied from 1.4 percent in the Middle East and Central Asia to 4.7 percent in Africa.
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