You have your funeral insured and perhaps you do not know it

• More than 2.5 million Catalans are covered by a funeral insurance policy
• Tarragona is the province with the largest population with this coverage
• Most of the large companies in the sector also have funeral subsidiaries

About a third of Catalans are covered by death insurance. Last year there were about 2.5 million people, almost a third of the population. These are users subject to a policy with a premium that covers the expenses related to their burial or cremation and that of relatives and the services associated with them. Prices can range from 20 or 35 euros per year for people aged 30 to 40 to 600 to 800 for those over 70 years old. The older the age, the higher the price. There are also level premiums (a constant fee only updated with inflation, from about 30 euros per year for people between 30 and 40 years old up to more than 300 for those over 65). And finally, there is the single premium, for people over 65 who did not have insurance, and which can range from more than 4,000 to 6,000 euros.

The proportion of insured people varies by territory. Tarragona is the Catalan province where this type of policy has the most penetration, with 34.8% of the population and Barcelona, the second, with 31.92%, according to data from the insurance employers' association Unespa. Next are Girona and Lleida, in that order, with 26.41% and 26.15%, respectively. And the expenses to be guaranteed vary greatly depending on the areas. In Barcelona, the average cost of a funeral ranges between 3,500 and 4,600 euros, although it can be from about 2,000 euros in the lower bracket and up to 6,000 euros in the upper one or more, depending on the services covered. More than 60% of the more than 200,000 annual deaths in Spain are covered by insurance of this type. Despite its implementation, the levels of insurance with these policies in Catalonia are well below the Spanish average, which reaches 44.38%, which translates into a total of 21.8 million insured people, with provinces such as Cadiz, where the penetration of these coverages reaches three out of every four inhabitants.

Premiums are rising more than the number of clients

In total, the companies in the sector exceeded 3 billion euros in premiums last year for the first time; of these, 467 million, also an unprecedented level, were in Catalonia. Premium income grew by around 2%, but the number of insured persons was 2% lower compared to 2024. In the first quarter of the current year, the volume of premiums stood at more than 1.3 billion euros throughout Spain, according to data from the Directorate General of Insurance of the Ministry of Economy.

Unespa highlights the "historical and family roots" of these policies, which means that some are passed down from parents to children and some beneficiaries are sometimes not aware they have them. Insurance policies usually cover numerous generations of a family. The proof is that the market is about 9 million policies and the covered insured are almost 22 million. Although these are specific insurance policies, there are also solutions, such as life insurance, that integrate this coverage along with other guarantees. There is also not much difference in penetration between urban and rural areas, with percentages ranging from 37% to 44%.

And there are no excessive differences between age groups either, given that they are a product of a family nature. In any case, the highest ratios are among people aged 50 or over, at close to 50%. But even among young people, the levels are not very low, between 30% and 40% among the population under 35 years of age, according to Unespa data. Regarding the types of households, those that use them the most are those made up of couples without minor children in which at least one of the two members is over 65 years old (56.7%). Those in which an elderly person lives alone also stand out (52%). It is also present in households where parents and minor children live together. Where it is contracted the least is in those where a person under 30 years old lives alone.

"Unlike other insurance solutions focused on financial compensation, the Spanish death insurance model stands out for the effective organization of the funeral service and support for families. Territorial differences reflect different traditions and contracting habits", according to a source from one of the large companies in the sector.

Five of the very large ones

These insurance policies have evolved significantly, from the premium that covered only the funeral to the current ones, which include all kinds of associated services. It is a highly concentrated market, in which the top five companies control more than half of the policies. The first is Santa Lucía, a firm owned by the Álvarez family, with approximately a third of the market share. It is a vertically integrated group with 100% of the funeral home Albia and document management through the Iris brand. It also owns the Ballesol network of nursing homes.

The second in the market is Ocaso, owned by Isabel Castelo d'Ortega, Marchioness of Taurisano, and her daughter, Isabel Elena de Mandalúniz; with around a fifth of the market share; and with a subsidiary for funeral services (Servisa). Mapfre, for its part, which years ago bought the specialized company Finisterre, also owns the company Funespaña. Next come SegurCaixa Adeslas and Occident, which in 2022 bought the funeral group Mémora, the most important one in Spain.