Panama: insurance king

The largest insurance market in Central America is Panama, where individuals and businesses last year spent more than $1 billion on premiums.

This was 26% more than Costa Rica, the region’s second-biggest consumer of insurance policies.

Guatemala came third, according to data published last month by Fitch Ratings.

With a population much greater than that of any other Central American country, however, per-capita purchase of insurance in Guatemala ranks higher only than Nicaragua.

At an average of 3.5% of Gross Domestic Product, insurance penetration in Central America generally is lower than in the rest of Latin America, where premiums on average represent 5% of GDP.


Figures reflect the value of total premiums in 2011 in millions of dollars.

1. Panama (1,017)
2. Costa Rica (749)
3. Guatemala (647)
4. El Salvador (427)
5. Honduras (315)
6. Nicaragua (119)