The socio-cultural underpinnings of the life insurance market in Kazakhstan

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the determinants of the life insurance demand in Kazakhstan. The aim of this study was to find how Kazakhs perceive life insurance as a market product and how the perception impacts the consumption pattern of life insurance. For this research, two methods of analysis were employed: quantitative and qualitative. In the first chapter, econometric tools were used to determine the change in the demand across individual characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, occupation and place of residence. Also, macrolevel determinants of demand such as average income and urbanization rate were determined. In the second and third chapters, in-depth interviews with representatives of local population and sales agents were used to determine cultural features of Kazakh society that serve as a barrier for the development of the life insurance market in Kazakhstan. Certain patterns of consumption are determined across macrolevel personal and characteristics in the first chapter. The explanation for these patterns are found further in second and thirds chapters. Strong influence of social norms on the way the product is perceived by Kazakhs. Apart from social norms, strong impact of historical experience is observed in the perception of life insurance. Local norms strongly impact the risk and death perception of Kazakhs that are central components for the realization of need for life insurance.