Africa's non-life insurance market is less concentrated than life, with six markets posting gross written premiums of over $1bn, against three in life, according to the African Insurance Organisation in its Annual Report 2026.
South Africa still leads the continent with GWP of $13,278m in 2025. This was 47% of the combined total of the 22 markets ranked, and only 3.7 times the next market.
Six markets exceed $1bn: South Africa, Morocco ($3,609m), Kenya ($1,757m), Egypt ($1,564m), Algeria ($1,266m) and Nigeria ($1,037m). A middle tier follows in the $300-900m range, spanning Tunisia, Angola, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Senegal.
The reason for the difference between the non-life and life branches is that non-life demand is driven by insurable assets and by compulsory cover—above all, motor third-party liability—both of which track economic activity far more directly than life savings. That is why the North African markets, which barely register in the life ranking, occupy three of the top six places here. It is also why Angola—23rd in life at $51m—is eighth in non-life at $593m, on the back of oil, energy and industrial risk. The same drivers shape performance according to GCR Ratings.
Compulsory classes deliver volume but not margin. In Kenya, where motor accounts for 27.4% of non-life premiums, and recorded an underwriting deficit of KES5.24bn ($40.37m) in 2024 and a combined ratio of 103.8%, driven by motor and aviation losses on inflationary repair costs and elevated accident frequency. Combined ratios above 100% are likewise reported in Tanzania and, for 2022 and 2023, in Malawi. Price undercutting compounds the pressure, most visibly in Kenyan motor.
Profitability across much of the continent therefore rests on investment income rather than underwriting, a pattern GCR identifies in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Benin alike. South Africa is the exception: a deep market with projected real growth of about 2%, where earnings risk remains relatively low but has risen with the increased frequency of catastrophe events and high-value climate-related claims.