Irish Life paid almost €1 billion in protection and health insurance claims across Ireland in 2025

Dublin, July 9th, 2026 – Irish Life paid €985.3 million in claims in 2025 across its life assurance and health insurance businesses, equivalent to almost €4 million every working day. Irish Life Assurance paid €404.3 million in protection claims, supporting more than 7,900 families in Ireland through Life Cover, Specified Illness Cover, Income Protection, terminal illness and rider protection benefits, while Irish Life Health paid €581 million across 974,663 health insurance claims.

The 2025 claims data show the continued scale of the group’s support for customers and families across Ireland. In recent years, Irish Life has paid almost €4.4 billion in claims, made up of €2.014 billion in protection claims between 2020 and 2025 and €2.377 billion in health insurance claims between 2021 and 2025.

In protection, Irish Life paid more than €1.5 million every working day in 2025 to customers and families facing bereavement, serious illness or loss of income. Living benefits accounted for the majority of protection claims by volume, with Irish Life paying 5,075 living benefit claims across individual and group plans, representing 63% of claim cases and €138 million in payments. These included Specified Illness Cover, Income Protection, terminal illness and rider benefits. Death benefits accounted for the remaining 2,831 cases, representing 37% of claim cases, with total payments of €265 million.

The 2025 claims data points to the importance of protection cover during working and family-forming years. Among individual Life Cover death claims, while the average age of claimants was 68, some 23% of claims were for people aged between 41 and 60. The pattern was even more pronounced for individual Specified Illness Cover claims, where the average claimant age was 54 and 59% of claimants were aged between 41 and 60.

Malignant cancer was the largest cause of individual Specified Illness Cover claims, followed by heart related conditions and stroke. Irish Life paid more than €1.1 million every week on individual Specified Illness Cover plans in 2025, including around four breast cancer claims, two prostate malignant cancer claims, one heart attack claim and one stroke claim each week. Cancer remained the leading cause of individual death claims, accounting for 32% of cases. Respiratory conditions accounted for 19%, while heart-related conditions accounted for 12%.

The group’s health insurance claims showed a similar scale of support. Irish Life Health paid €581 million across 974,663 health insurance claims in 2025, an average of almost 19,000 claims every week and more than €2.2 million every working day.

Hospital claims accounted for the majority of payments, at €501 million across 417,199 claims. Outpatient claims totalled €80 million across 557,464 claims.

Over the five years from 2021 to 2025, Irish Life Health paid €2.377 billion across more than four million claims. Annual claims paid grew by 66% over the period, from €349.9 million in 2021, while claim volumes rose by 56%, from 623,178 to 974,663. Outpatient claims have been the fastest growing category by volume, up almost 75% since 2021, as customers make increasing use of the day-to-day benefits on their plans.

Sarah Parks, Head of Claims at Irish Life Assurance, said:
“Our 2025 claims data show how Irish Life is supporting customers and their families when they need it most. Notably, we are continuing to see claims paid at younger ages and at stages of life when people are building careers, raising families and taking on long-term financial commitments.

This is why it is so important to put cover in place early and to keep it under regular review, so that it continues to reflect changing financial needs. For us, every claim is a reminder that timely advice and the right level of protection can make a vital difference to families’ financial stability at very difficult moments.”

Cliona Merrigan, Head of Claims Strategy and Clinical Partnerships at Irish Life Health, said:
“Health insurance is ultimately about what it delivers when people need care, and these figures show that support in action. In 2025 we paid almost 19,000 claims every week, covering everything from major hospital treatment to the everyday supports that help people proactively look after their health, and our claims payments have grown by two thirds over the past five years.

At Irish Life, we believe it’s better to act today when it comes to health, so we are particularly encouraged to see customers making ever greater use of the day-to-day benefits on their plans, with outpatient claims up almost 75% since 2021. Every claim we pay reflects our commitment to being there for our customers at every stage of their health journey, and to ensuring they get real value from their cover.”

Additional protection claims data

Between 2020 and 2025, Irish Life paid 500 individual death claims to people aged 35 to 45, totalling €94.7 million, with an average claim of €189,000. More than half of these claims, 56%, were on mortgage-related plans. Over the same period, Irish Life paid 741 individual Specified Illness Cover claims to people aged 35 to 45, totalling €57 million, with an average claim of €77,000.

About Irish Life

Irish Life is one of Ireland’s leading financial services groups, now taking care of over 1.6 million customers. We help people to improve their financial, physical and mental wellbeing, helping to build better lives today and better futures.

We are part of the Great-West group of companies, one of the world’s leading life assurance organisations. Great-West and its subsidiaries have total client assets of CAD$3.3 trillion and are members of the Power Financial Corporation group of companies.

Irish Life delivers innovative solutions for personal and corporate customers, backed by the highest standards of service. And as part of Great-West, we have access to experience and expertise on a global scale, so we can continuously enhance our leading range of services and solutions.

For media queries, please contact:
Joe Corcoran
PR Manager, Irish Life
joe.corcoran@irishlife.ie
083 860 7990