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Total sales of individual life insurance in the U.S., measured by new annualized premium, rose 8% in the first quarter of 2011 from the same period a year ago, fueled largely by universal and whole life polices, according to the Life Insurance and Market Research Association (LIMRA).  Universal life annualized premium grew 14% while policy count increased by 18%.

Growth in whole life insurance sales has slowed as compared to the double digit increases it saw over the first few quarters of this year. In the first nine months of 2010, sales grew 15%, according to LIMRA’s U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales survey. The third quarter by itself however, showed that sales improved only 6%, but Ashley Durham, senior analyst of LIMRA product research says, “It’s important to remember that third quarter 2010 is being compared with the time when the double digit increases began. As of the end of September, whole life represented 30% of overall annualized premium sales.”

Total new individual life annualized premium showed a similar trend. In the first quarter of 2010, sales increased 10%, and in the second quarter, 7%. The third quarter, however, was flat.  In the first nine months of 2010, sales grew 6%.