Nippon Life Insurance Co. had lost its No. 1 position in the individual life insurance market by the end of September for the first time in the postwar period, industry officials said Thursday.
American Family Life Insurance Co. of Columbus, Ohio, or AFLAC, replaced Nippon Life as the biggest holder of individual life and annuity insurance contracts in Japan by boosting contracts 2.1 percent during the April-September first half of fiscal 2004 to 16.92 million.
In contrast, Nippon Life saw its number declining by 1.6 percent during the period to 16.58 million contracts.
Life insurers have failed to boost life insurance products as their mainstay due to a drop in the population of young people, while foreign firms have expanded cancer and medical insurance products on the strength of lower premiums, analysts said.
AFLAC has increased its number of contracts for 29 consecutive years since it launched Japanese operations in 1974.