June 28th, 2022, Kineree Shah
As prices of food, oil, and other essentials increase, consumers have begun to change the way they manage their money. In a new YouGov poll, we asked consumers across 18 international markets – If your household budget is squeezed as a result of increases in the cost of living, in which areas would you first make cutbacks? Over a tenth (13%) of global consumers answered insurance policies or premiums. Although that’s bad news for the industry, it makes insurance one of areas of consumer spend most resistant to cost of living increases, with only healthcare costs less likely to be cut (9% globally).
Drilling into the data by market, the highest numbers came from Australia (18%). In Europe about one-fifth of consumers in Germany (18%), Spain (16%), and Italy (16%) said that they would cut back on insurance policies if household budgets were squeezed. In comparison, the numbers were significantly less in Sweden (8%) and Denmark (5%). Nearly one in 10 consumers from Britain and the US answered that they will look to cut back on this type of spending in the event of household budget limitations.
Breaking down the data according to region and age, we see that adults aged 18-24 (8%) and 25-34 (9%) from North American markets are less likely to cut back on insurance in comparison to those aged 45-55 (14%).
17% of adults aged 55+ from APAC countries say they are likely to reduce spending on insurance – the joint largest proportion in our analysis.
In the UAE, the scenario is reversed. About 10% of those aged 55+ are likely to reduce their insurance spending in contrast to 17% of consumers aged 18-24.
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Methodology
The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 508 and 2065 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in May 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.