Q2 2026 Individual Insurance Agents Drop to 2.09 Million; Major Insurers See New Business Value Growth

In the second quarter of 2026, the contraction of the individual insurance agent workforce in China's life insurance industry continued. As of the end of the quarter, the 57 life insurers that disclosed data had a combined 2.091 million individual agents, down 35,000 from the end of the first quarter. Structurally, concentration among the top insurers remained pronounced: the six largest life insurers accounted for 82.35% of the industry total, but internal divergence widened. China Life recorded a net increase of about 12,000 agents, while Taikang Life reduced its workforce by 38,000 in a single quarter.

Specifically, as of the end of the second quarter of 2026, China Life, Ping An Life, Taikang Life, CPIC Life, Taiping Life, and New China Life had a combined approximately 1.72 million agents, representing 82.35% of the industry total. Among them, China Life led with 657,000 agents, accounting for 31.4% of the total. In terms of workforce changes, among the 57 disclosing companies, 23 increased their headcount (by a combined about 24,000), 31 reduced it (by a combined 59,000), and 3 remained flat. After a net reduction of 38,000 agents in the quarter, Taikang Life's agent count stood at 237,000, ranking third in the industry, behind only Ping An Life's 326,000.

Ping An Health, a specialized health insurance company, saw its agent workforce expand against the trend. As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, Ping An Health had 58,000 agents; in the second quarter, it added a net 7,491 agents, bringing the total to 65,600, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 12.9%. Its attrition rate for the first half of 2026 was 10.76%, among the lowest in the industry. Another health insurer, CPIC Health, built its individual insurance team from scratch, ending the second quarter with just 3 agents.

In terms of premium per agent, in the first half of 2026, Rui Tai Life, BOCOM Life, and Beijing Life recorded per-agent premiums of RMB 235,000, RMB 211,000, and RMB 188,000, respectively. AIA China, with nearly 50,000 sales staff, achieved per-agent premiums of RMB 179,000 in the first half; Manulife-Sinochem and MetLife China both exceeded RMB 100,000 per agent. Regarding attrition rates, in the first half of 2026, Fosun United Health topped the list with 43.54%, while Guobao Life, Sino-UK Life, China United Life, Soochow Life, Taikang Life, and Huagui Life all recorded attrition rates above 30%.

Interim reports from listed insurers for 2026 show that the individual insurance channel remains the core value driver for the life insurance sector. In the first half of 2026, China Life achieved total new business value of RMB 38.167 billion, of which the individual channel contributed RMB 33.464 billion, up 37.5% year on year, accounting for nearly 90% of the company's value contribution. Ping An Life and Health reported new business value of RMB 24.847 billion, with the agency channel contributing RMB 15.179 billion, up 5.4% year on year, and per-agent new business value up 14.1%. CPIC Life's core agents generated monthly first-year regular premiums of RMB 101,646 per capita, up 39.5% year on year, and monthly first-year commission income of RMB 8,026 per capita, up 12.7%. New China Life reported life insurance new business value of RMB 6.916 billion in the first half, with the individual channel contributing RMB 3.744 billion, up 20.6% year on year. PICC Life achieved new business value of RMB 5.177 billion in the first half, of which the individual channel contributed RMB 2.521 billion, up 23.4% year on year on a comparable basis.