Radiografía del seguro de decesos en España

Josep Lledó Benito; Priscila Espinosa; Jose M. Pavía

doi:10.26360/2025_02

Authors

Josep Lledó Benito Universitat de València (España) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7475-8549
Priscila Espinosa Universitat de València (España) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3870-6194
Jose M. Pavía Universitat de València (España) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0129-726X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26360/2025_02

Keywords:

postal code, ecological analysis, negative binomial, income level, habitat size, distribution, market penetration

Abstract

Funeral insurance is an insurance product designed to cover the expenses and administrative procedures associated with a person’s death. Its main purpose is to relieve the insured person’s family of the financial and bureaucratic burdens arising from the funeral. Despite its widespread presence in the Spanish market—currently, more than 22 million people in Spain have coverage under this type of insurance—academic and scientific literature on funeral insurance remains surprisingly scarce. The aim of this study is to help fill this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of funeral insurance in Spain, based on the analysis of the sociodemographic profiles of policyholders, including their geographic distribution, income levels, and municipality sizes. The study examines a representative sample of 2.1 million policies, using the insured individuals’ postal codes of residence. The results reveal an uneven penetration across provinces, income groups, and habitat sizes, with lower rates in urban areas and among higher-income individuals. However, education level, more than income, is the variable with the greatest impact, showing a statistically significant interaction effect with income. The combination of a high level of education and high income reduces the likelihood of holding a funeral insurance policy.

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