(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Among the foreigners registered in South Korea, the share of those who subscribe to insurance policies has been on an upward trend and such foreigners showed a high preference for health insurance primarily due to concerns about illness, a report showed Sunday.
The number of foreigners registered in South Korea stood at around 1.15 million in 2020 and the ratio of foreigners to the total population stood at 2.5 percent but has been growing year after year, according to a report released by the Korea Insurance Research Institute.
During the period from 2014 to 2020, the insurance subscription growth rate among registered foreigners stood at 17.8 percent, far higher than 2.6 percent for Koreans.
During this period, in particular, the foreigners in their 30s and over 60 showed a robust growth rate of 20.7 percent and 21.3 percent, respectively.
By type of insurance products, the subscription rate for illness insurance products was 11 percentage points higher for foreigners than Koreans as of 2015.
When classifying foreigners’ subscriptions to insurance products by channel, face-to-face channels such as life planners and insurance agencies accounted for more than 65 percent.
When it comes to insurance payouts, foreigners received more insurance money for hospitalization and outpatient treatments than illness diagnosis and surgery compared to those received by Koreans.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
