Since 2015, the year in which the insurance sector was liberalized in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the market has been booming. But most people seem to have little interest in insurance.

The first survey of Congolese people and insurance was carried out in 2019 by Target Sarl, a firm specializing in market research and opinion polls, in the capital cities of the 11 provinces according to the old administrative configuration, with a sample of 1,004 people.

To conduct the second edition of this study, Target enlarged the sample from 1,004 to 2,000 people and extended the survey to the 26 provinces of the DRC, using quota methods applied to the variables of gender, age group, and province to select respondents. Key themes covered by the survey included awareness of insurance companies, knowledge of different policies, intention to take out an insurance policy, and the best insurance company.

The DRC's insurance regulator, the Autorité de Régulation et de Contrôle des Assurances en RDC (ARCA), estimates that by 2021 the market for non-life insurance companies will be dominated by Rawsur 31%, Sonas 26%, and SFA 23%, ahead of Activa 9%, Mayfair 5%, GPA 3% and Sunu 2%. However, Rawsur Life completely dominates the life insurance market with 74%, compared with 16% for Activa vie RDC and 10% for Affrisur.

Although the number of insurance companies has risen from 5 to 10 between 2019 and 2023, the general public is less informed about the products and services offered by insurance companies in the DRC.

When it comes to knowledge of insurance policies, the best known is motor insurance (47%), followed by life insurance (20%), healthcare insurance (17%), and comprehensive fire insurance (9%).

Car insurance is much more familiar to men (59%), who range from 18 to 24 (32%), 25 to 34 (26%), and 50 and over (25%).

In the 18-24 age group, 61% of men are familiar with life insurance. As for health insurance, the majority of men aged 18 to 24 are in Kivu.

The age group 25 to 34 says it is familiar with comprehensive fire insurance (30%); men outnumber women by 51% to 49% in this category. In terms of the province, Kinshasa leads with 21%, followed by Kivu and Katanga.

The overall trends show that the population of Kivu appears to be the most aware of insurance policies, followed by Katanga, while the scores are lower in Equateur and Bandundu.

The survey provides an important overview of companies operating in the insurance sector, enabling them to find out which policies are of most interest to the public. It is also a measure of company awareness at the national level.

Please contact info@target-sarl.cd to order the study.