Foreign travel and residency risks exist everywhere but at varying degrees by geography, and insurers recognize the need to maintain an awareness of these potential risks. RGA continually monitors a country’s relative risk level using a proprietary model with 26 variables and reports the findings to better inform clients.
Traveling or residing abroad can be an exhilarating experience filled with exploring different cultures, consuming diverse cuisines, and establishing new relationships. For insurers, however, it requires a sense of caution and awareness, as foreign travel and residency carries inherent risks for their policyholders.
These risks vary by geography. Understanding the potential hazards that exist in different countries is an important consideration for insurers when assessing risks associated with traveling to or living in a foreign land.
Global change necessitates ongoing monitoring of foreign risks. For this reason, RGA observes and evaluates foreign risks and produces a study every two years for its clients. Using a proprietary model, each country’s relative risk level is measured through 26 variables.
The variables cover a range of factors which could impact mortality, such as economic conditions, health-related factors, and environmental considerations.
A few examples include:
RGA’s report is updated with the most recent data available for each variable at the time of the study to reflect any potential changes to the risk environment within each country.
What’s past is prologue, or so Shakespeare’s The Tempest teaches us, and this certainly applies to foreign risk assessment. In general, an examination of a risk over time enables a deeper understanding of its symptoms and how they may evolve. It can also help identify when a variation of a risk may emerge. How a country managed a particular risk can help address similar incarnations in the present or future.
Since 2020, a spotlight has been cast on a worldwide risk – the threat of pandemics and epidemics. The mass disruption from the COVID-19 global pandemic and how different countries addressed it emphasized the importance of this factor when assessing foreign risks.
The COVID-19 pandemic influenced RGA to make changes to the foreign risk analysis. The 2024 study introduced a new indicator, utilizing data from the Global Health Security (GHS) Index. RGA’s intent for this new inclusion was to provide insight into a country’s infrastructure for preparedness and its ability to handle an epidemic or pandemic.
Through its examination of 195 countries, the GHS Index states that it “benchmarks health security in the context of other factors critical to fighting outbreaks, such as political and security risks, the broader strength of the health system, and country adherence to global norms.”1
The GHS Index is comprised of six categories in which countries are scored:
All data is scored on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 indicating the best health security conditions. Below are the overall scores for the top five and bottom five countries from the GHS Index.
Figure 1: GHS Index overall score
These scores provide additional insight into the relative preparedness of each country to respond to a future pandemic or epidemic.
Mortality risks vary tremendously by geography. RGA’s ongoing monitoring and comprehensive risk analysis provide vital information that enables insurers to better evaluate underwriting decisions for various geographies.
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