Everywhere you go in the world there is insurance. Insurance in Russia today is not what it was during the Soviet period. During this time the people of Russia knew little about insurance at the individual level and generally regarded it as a waste of money that was swallowed up by the government. The only exception to this was a few cases that were connected to life saving insurance plans.
At that point in time there was only one insurance agency throughout Russia and it was owned by the State. It was the Ministry of Finance that determined the yearly budget for various enterprises. A portion of that budget was expected to go to the Central Insurance Agency in the event that a natural disaster or a fire was to occur. There was then one All-Union insurance company that went by the name of “Gosstrakh”. This company had branches in different areas of the Soviet Union. That is the short version of what insurance in Russia was like in the past.
All citizens were required to carry certain types of insurance in those days. For example, it was mandatory for passengers to have insurance if they wished to use intercity or international transportation. The cost of the ticket included the insurance that was a requirement. Those who were employed in hazardous jobs were also required to have mandatory labor protection insurance. The only kind of commercial insurance that was offered by Gosstrakh was voluntary life insurance.
Insurance in Russia has come a long way since those days. It is now an individual sphere of a growing economy. Russia has its own capital as well as its own policies. Even at the level of the State, Russia’s insurance industry is developing and becoming both bigger and better.
As of the first of October, 2000 there were 1245 insurance companies registered in Russia. All of the premiums brought in by Russian insurance providers during the first nine months of the same year equalled 118.5 billion rubles. This works out to be four percent of the gross national product (GNP).
The number of voluntary insurance policies has grown by leaps and bounds in Russia over the years. In fact the premiums collected by companies in terms of voluntary insurance have increased by 1.8 times. This is continuing to grow all of the time. More and more Russian citizens are coming to see that insurance in Russia is not a waste of their hard earned money but can provide ample protection for their loved ones as well as themselves.
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