Korea’s pet insurance market grows as pet ownership rises

(SK telecom)

South Korea’s pet insurance market is growing rapidly as the number of people raising pets increases.

According to sources from the non-life insurance industry on Tuesday, the number of pet insurance policies held by the country’s 10 major non-life insurers was 144,884 as of the end of September 2024.

The number of pet insurance policies was only 7,005 in 2018, but surged to 24,199 in 2019, 35,415 in 2020, 51,727 in 2021, and 71,896 in 2022.

The number surpassed 100,000 for the first time last year, reaching 109,088 policies, and by September this year, it already surpassed the total number for the entire previous year.

The increase in the number of policies held is attributed to the rise in new contracts.

The number of new pet insurance contracts in the first nine months of this year was 63,113, surpassing last year’s total of 58,456.

The number of new contracts expanded rapidly from a mere 7,159 in 2018 to 17,566 in 2020 and 35,140 in 2022.

The revenue generated from pet insurance premiums by the 10 non-life insurers also increased significantly.

As of September this year, pet insurance premiums totaled 55.94 billion won ($40.61 million), exceeding last year’s figure of 46.88 billion won.

This growth is attributed to the rising number of households with pets.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, there were 6.74 million pet-owning households in Korea last year, accounting for 28.2 percent of all households.

The insurance subscription rate, however, remains low at just 1.4 percent of the total pet-owning population as of last year, prompting calls for improvements in related systems through legal reforms.

“For pet insurance to work, treatment details based on medical records must be accurately identified for insurance payouts, but many animal hospitals refuse to issue these records, making revisions to the Veterinarians Act necessary,” said an industry official.

Both the ruling and opposition parties have proposed amendments to the Veterinarians Act but the bills are pending.