When people buy life insurance, the first question is usually: Which policy should I buy?
The more important question is rarely asked: How much life insurance does my family actually need?
Without answering this, buying any life insurance policy, no matter how popular, can leave families financially exposed. This is where the concept of Human Life Value (HLV) becomes critical.
Human Life Value represents the economic value of a person’s life to their dependents. In simple terms, it answers one question: If a person’s income stops tomorrow, how much money would the family need to maintain financial stability?
In 1927, Dr. Solomon S. Huebner, a well-known American social scientist, introduced the idea of Human Life Value. He suggested that every person has an economic value that should be protected, much like any valuable asset. When someone earns more than they need for themselves, that income becomes crucial for the people who depend on them.
Insurers and economists needed a way to quantify the financial loss a household suffers when an earning member dies prematurely. HLV became that measure.
Modern financial planning still relies on this principle, even though many buyers are unaware of it.
HLV is calculated by estimating using one of two methods:
It estimates the present value of income that would have supported the family during the remaining working years. The formula is,
Where, n = number of working years left
r = discount rate
Net annual income = income minus taxes & expenses
Example:
Assume a person aged 34, retiring at age 60
Gross annual income = ₹15,00,000
Income tax = ₹2,00,000
Expenses = ₹4,00,000
Net annual income = ₹15,00,000 – ₹2,00,000 – ₹4,00,000 = ₹9,00,000
Assuming a discount rate of 7% over the remaining 26 years, we get
It builds life cover from expenses and obligations, not income alone.
Where Expected Rate of Return is the realistic return your family can earn after tax using safe investments.
Example:
Assuming the same 34-year-old person in the previous example,
Total expenses + tax = ₹6,00,000
Rate of return = 4%
Loans: ₹40,00,000
Future goals (children’s education): ₹60,00,000
If you have any existing insurance, you may subtract it from the HLV figure you arrive at.
Why the difference? In simple words, HLV shows the economic value of your future income for your dependents, and Need-based analysis determines the insurance amount based on your expenses, loans and any financial goals. There’s no right or wrong approach, but more what suits YOUR situation?
If you’re someone with kids, and has loans and are the sole earner of your family, it would be prudent to use the needs-based approach.
This brings us to why simply “having a policy” is not enough. While life insurance penetration has gradually improved over the past few years with many Indians owning life insurance policies, India remains one of the most underinsured life insurance markets globally. Industry and IRDAI observations show that insurance ownership has increased but average sum assured remains low compared to income and expenses.
Large sections of policyholders have life cover of less than five times annual income. This means families would struggle to cope financially within months of a loss. People have policies, but not protection, which defeats the very purpose of life insurance.
Swiss Re Institute has repeatedly highlighted India’s massive life protection gap, running into trillions of dollars. The Asia Life & Health Consumer Survey 2025 further shows:
The key insight reinforced what we highlighted previously: underinsurance is widespread even among insured households.
The HLV gap exists largely because life insurance in India has traditionally been sold and bought as:
Money-back and endowment plans appeal because they provide certainty and visible payouts. But from an HLV standpoint, they are inefficient and benefit only your agent and the insurer.
A large portion of the premium goes towards savings and guarantees, leaving limited room for meaningful life cover. The result is high premiums and low protection.
People then assume they are protected because they own policies, while the actual HLV gap remains wide.
Term insurance aligns closely with Human Life Value because it focuses only on protection.
Term insurance:
Because premiums are not diverted into savings, families can insure their full HLV without stretching affordability. This makes term insurance the most effective tool for closing the protection gap.
You are doing it wrong if you are:
Insurance is not meant to create wealth. It is meant to protect your dependents from financial disaster.
Owning traditional policies does not mean starting over. You can start by:
In many cases, assuming you can still afford it, the simplest solution is to add a term insurance policy to bridge the HLV gap, while allowing existing policies to continue as savings instruments. This avoids surrender losses and restores protection adequacy.
insurancepe believes that until life insurance decisions are centred around Human Life Value, many families will remain financially vulnerable despite paying premiums for years.
This blog post is brought to you by the minds at insurancepe!
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