Open Data to Insure the World's Poorest
2.8 billion people live on less than two dollars per day. For this half of the worlds population, any economic shock can be crippling and even fatal. The microinsurance industry attempts to lessen these shocks by providing small, low-premium insurance policies to those in need. The availability of mobile phones has made it easier to enroll customers, accept payments, and deliver payouts. However a lack of data still presents a tremendous barrier to creating new insurance products. Better data can lower the barriers to providing low cost, sustainable insurance to the world’s poorest.
The Microinsurance Network launched a World Map of Microinsurance to provide market data on microinsurance in over 120 countries. This data allows insurers to create more effective products and promotes transparency within the industry. Governments and development organizations can use this data to craft better policies and market opportunities.
The World Map of Microinsurance allows users to explore microinsurance data collected by the Microinsurance Centre from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Multiple filters and aggregations create many ways to explore the data. Small cards show more detailed data at the country level. And if you want access to the raw data, there’s always a link to the CSV.
Raw data provides additional opportunities for transparency and data distribution.
Gathering data for this industry will remain important as the industry continues to emerge. Check out the World Map of Microinsurance and explore the latest data that is available. As always, feel free to check out the code and data on GitHub.