Carmina Dragomir, CEO Metropolitan Life Romania: Life insurance market is growing, but it’s still limited by poor financial education

The life insurance market in Romania is on a growth trend, but it is still limited by the poor financial education and the lack of fiscal incentives, according to Carmina Dragomir, CEO Metropolitan Life Romania.

A Romanian spends an average of 18 Euro a year on life insurance, with the European Union average being 1,300 euros. Life insurance accounts for only 20 percent of total insurance premiums in Romania, compared with 60 percent on average across the EU.

“The penetration of life insurance remains below 0.3 percent, despite economic growth, which shows that other factors, such as low levels of financial education and lack of fiscal incentives, are limiting the growth of the sector. Although they are aware of accidents and illnesses, the Romanian do not think that something bad can happen to them. Moreover, because of superstitions they do not want to talk about a difficult situation because I think they will attract it,” said Dragomir.

Only 1 out of 5 adults have an understanding of basic financial products, placing Romania on the last place in Europe with a 21 percent financial education rate.