‚ethodology and data This study loos at insurance premium This sigma study is based on the direct premium volumes o insurance companies‰ volumes data rom 1’ƒ countries… regardless o whether private or stateŽowned… €remiums paid to state social insurers are not included… ”ie and nonŽlie premium volume in 1’ƒ countries is examined… ­etailed inormation on the largest  countries in terms o total insurance premium volume can be ound in the statistical appendix… Œhere not indicated‰ igures and chart inormation in this report are all sourced rom „wiss ˜e Economic ˜esearch ™ —onsulting… ll «uoted growth rates are in real terms ll premium growth rates «uoted in the text are in real terms‰ ie‰ adŠusted or inlation †measured using local consumer price indices‡‰ unless otherwise noted… —ountry classiications generally ollow The designation o the economies in this sigma as “advanced” or “emerging” is ‚¥ conventions… generally in eeping with the conventions o the nternational ‚onetary ¥und †‚¥‡… dvanced economies include the ‹„‰ —anada‰ Œestern Europe †excluding Turey‡‰ srael‰ ¢ceania‰ •apan and the other advanced sian economies †‘ong –ong‰ „ingapore‰ „outh –orea and Taiwan‡… ll other countries are classiied as “emerging” and generally correspond to the ‚¥’s “emerging and developing” economies…30 ­ata sources… The insurance data and estimates contained in the study originate primarily rom national supervisory authorities and‰ in some cases‰ rom insurance associations… ‚acroeconomic data was sourced rom the nternational ¥inancial „tatistics o the ‚¥‰ ¢xord Economics and ‘„ lobal nsights… ­ata revisions ¥igures or past years are adŠusted as new inormation becomes available‰ while the 31 sigma world insurance tables are updated and published at the beginning o each calendar year… „ince the publication o last years’ sigma‰ global premium volume or 201’ is unchanged or lie insurance and has been revised by Ž1…1ˆ or nonŽlie… ­einition o premium income This report is based on inormation concerning the premiums written or direct business by all registered insurers… This means“ 1… ­irect insurance premiums‰ including commissions and other charges‰ are considered prior to cession to a reinsurance company… 2… ­omestic insurers – regardless o their ownership – and domestic branches o oreign insurers are regarded as domestically domiciled business units… ¦usiness undertaen by the oreign branches o domestic insurers is not regarded as domestic business… 3… ¦usiness that has been written in the domestic maret includes premiums or cover o domestic riss as well as those covering oreign riss‰ as long as they are written by domestic insurers †crossŽborder business‡… ‘ealth insurance is allocated to nonŽlie ”ie and nonŽlie business areas in this sigma study are categorised according to business… standard E‹ and ¢E—­ conventions“ health insurance is allocated to nonŽlie insurance‰ even i it is classiied dierently in individual countries… ­ensity and penetration do not include ¢nly premium income rom domestic riss is used to calculate insurance penetration crossŽborder business… and density… —rossŽborder business is not included… This has a signiicant eect in ”uxembourg‰ taly and reland… rowth rates in local currency are ‹nless otherwise stated‰ premium growth rates indicate changes in real terms… adŠusted or inlation… These real growth rates are calculated using premiums in local currencies and adŠusted or inlation using the consumer price index or each country… The statistical appendix also provides the nominal change in growth or each country… ˜egional aggregated growth rates are calculated using the previous year’s premium volumes and converted into ‹„ dollars at maret exchange rates… The same procedure applies to the economic aggregates o Table ®‰ where the previous year’s nominal ­€ igures in ‹„ dollars are used as weights… 30 The only exceptions are the —§ech ˜epublic‰ Estonia‰ „lovenia and „lovaia… 31 The update o the tables can be ound on www…swissre…com/sigma… Swiss Re sigma No 3/2016 3