TY - JOUR AB - Purpose In this paper, we aim to assess insurance demand across selected Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis.Design/methodology/approach We collected data from 55 emerging Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis. Our methodology relies on panel regressions. Separate models are run for the Asia/OECD economies and a follow-up distinction between high/low-income regions is also made.Findings We find that global financial crisis affects negatively the general insurance demand particularly in high-income region. Higher dependency ratio in Asia tends to decrease insurance demand, whereas education in case of Asia positively influences insurance demand indicating that higher literacy rate can be helpful to capture the potential customers. Our results further reveal that life insurance is an important driver for insurance demand in OECD countries, whereas general insurance demand is higher in the Asian economies.Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study is that data sets employed do not differentiate between different life and general insurance products.Practical implications This study is helpful for regulators, policymakers and insurance providers to evaluate, assess and monitor insurance demand in relevant countries.Originality/value This is one of the pioneering studies that have assessed insurance demand among emerging Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis.Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2019-0523 VL - 47 IS - 3 SN - 0306-8293 DO - 10.1108/IJSE-08-2019-0523 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-08-2019-0523 AU - Akhter Waheed AU - Pappas Vasileios AU - Khan Saad Ullah PY - 2020 Y1 - 2020/01/01 TI - Insurance demand in emerging Asian and OECD countries: a comparative perspective T2 - International Journal of Social Economics PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 350 EP - 364 Y2 - 2024/05/04 ER -