Insurance premiums in Bulgaria went up 11.9% last year to 1.52 billion leva (777 mln euros), compared with 1.25 billion leva (639 mln euros) a year ago, research conducted by Swiss Re reveals.

The hike is smaller than the one seen in Latvia (37.9%), Lithuania (28.2%), Russia (16.6%) and Romania (17.7%).

In US Dollar terms, Bulgaria ranks 61st in the world in terms of premium size in the sector and 29th among the European countries surveyed.

Life insurance premiums in the country rose 19.1% in real terms to 228,000 leva, which is still a relatively small share.

The hike in general insurance premiums is even smaller (10.7%), the report shows.

Average insurance sum per capita in Bulgaria stood at 139.3 dollars. Romania is behind Bulgaria on this list with an average of 135.2 dollars per capita.

As a whole, countries in CEE saw a significant growth in the sector, the report also concludes.

Insurance premiums in the region are up 12.9% last year to a total of 74.37 billion dollars. In 2006 those rose by 11.8%. Countries in the CEE region account for 1.8% of the global insurance sector.

Life insurance in CEE rose by 17% last year, which is slightly slower than the 19% growth in 2006.

Last year insurance premiums globally rose by 3.3% to 4.06 billion dollars.

More than 50% of this amount, or some 2.39 billion dollars, was generated on the life insurance segment.