| dc.description.abstract | Life insurance is contract in which one party (the insurer), in consideration of a specified amount
(premium), either in lump sum or in form of any other periodical payments, in return agrees to
pay to another party (the assured), or to the person for whose benefit the policy is taken, a stated
sum of money upon occurrence of a tragedy. Besides its importance, life insurance penetration
and uptake in Uganda is less than 1%. The low penetration rate and uptake of life insurance has
however been cited to be caused by a number of factors. So the current study sought to assess
factors affecting uptake of the life insurance policy in Uganda, focusing on Sanlam insurance as
a case study. The study specifically ascertained the degree of life insurance uptake in terms of
demographic structures, examined the extent to which consumer attitudes affects the uptake of
life insurance and assessed socio-economic factors limiting the uptake of life insurance cover in
Uganda. A cross-sectional design with qualitative and quantitative methods was used in
collecting data from 155 respondents.
The study revealed that life insurance in Uganda is low because many people are hindered by a
number of factors ranging from socio-demographic factors, attitudes and socio-economic factors
particularly the financial constraints. Socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, education,
occupation and marital status greatly affects uptake of the policy. The uptake is also influenced
by consumer attitudes for instance, many do not trust life insurance providers, many fear to lose
money in premium in case they do not become sick since most medical premiums cannot be
refunded unless a strategy occurs. It was also found that there are high levels of ignorance about
the benefits of life insurance among many Ugandans. There are also high levels of financial
illiteracy among the low income earners; therefore marketers of life insurance services targeting
these groups are often confronted with the challenge of convincing them to embrace life
insurance and its associated benefits. Besides this, socio-economic factors such as affordability
of life insurance, difference in occupation, difference in income levels; difference in family size
for instance dependence level by other people, difference in social security savings among others
are greatly affects the uptake of life insurance in Uganda. The study therefore confirmed that low
uptake of life insurance and its products is partially due to low awareness and affordability which
has caused a lot of ignorance about the policy, hence the study recommends for vigorous
sensitizations of the public. The government of Uganda also needs to intervene for reduction of
life insurance premiums so as they can be affordable to all classes. | en_US |
