In 2019, the National Insurance Commission (NIC) with funding from GIZ conducted a research into the perceptions members of the general public hold about insurance, as well as the level of insurance-awareness they have. The research was also to measure the Confidence Index of Insurance in Ghana.
The study revealed that the average attitude index as of 2020 was 55.15 out of 100; the average confidence index was 46.7 out of 100; while the knowledge index was 60.07% – signifying that a lot needs to be done to enhance the various indices. Since the baseline assessment, the NIC has undertaken numerous interventions targetted at enhancing the public’s knowledge, attitude and confidence of insurance in Ghana. Some of these interventions include insurance-awareness and education programmes across the seven NIC jurisdictional offices, as well as carrying out agency training programmes.
As a recommendation from the baseline, the NIC is undertaking a yearly update of these indices to help measure the impact of its interventions. The phase-2 assignment will be in line with management’s decision to implement the recommendations on the annual update of the indices. The specific objectives of the phase-2 research were to:
| · Assess the general public’s perceptions and understanding of insurance concepts, products and companies;
· Assess the general public’s knowledge of insurance concepts, products and companies; · Assess the attitude of the general public toward insurance concepts, products and companies; · Assess general public experiences regarding raising queries, complaints and dispute resolutions; · Identify issues that need to be addressed to improve public confidence, and; · Update the current Public Confidence Index in insurance with both national and regional perspectives.
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Sample Size and Geographical Spread
The research was conducted in all sixteen (16) regions of Ghana, involving a total of one thousand, and eighty-nine (1,089) individual respondents. These individual respondents comprised three hundred and twenty (320) active policyholders; three hundred and forty-one (341) previous policyholders; and four hundred and twenty-eight (428) non-policyholders located in rural, peri-urban and urban localities as presented in Figure 1. The phase-2 research used the same sample size and geographical spread as in the baseline research.
Figure 1: Sample Size and Geographical Spread
Key Findings
Figure 2: Awareness and Knowledge of Insurance in Ghana
Conclusions
The following conclusions were drawn on the objectives of the phase-2 research
| · That the 2020 general public perception and attitude toward insurance concepts, products and companies stand at 57.04 out of 100; two-percentage points above the 2019 index of 55.15.
· That in spite of the public-awareness campaigns undertaken by NIC since 2019, the general public’s knowledge of insurance concepts, products and companies index declined from 59.92 to 53.92 in 2020 – possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. · The research generated an average confidence index of 56.66 for 2020, which is ten percentage points higher than the 2019 index of 46.6. Similar to the baseline in 2019, the important performance matrix identified issues such as relationship, loyalty, claims, trust and protection to be given greater attention in order to drive confidence in insurance among Ghanaians. |
