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Top 10 Ethiopian Insurers by Gross Written Premium (2024/25)

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Ethiopia’s insurers wrote about ETB 41.2 billion in gross premiums in the 2024/25 financial year, up roughly 45 percent from ETB 28.4 billion a year earlier, according to National Bank of Ethiopia data quoted in the companies’ annual reports. General insurance, led by motor cover, makes up more than 90 percent of the market. Eighteen companies sell insurance directly; this list ranks the 10 largest by premium.

At a glance

Rank Insurer Gross written premium 2024/25 (ETB billion)
1 Ethiopian Insurance Corporation 13.23
2 Awash Insurance 4.53
3 Nyala Insurance 3.05
4 Hibret Insurance 2.75
5 Oromia Insurance 2.7 (rounded)
6 Nib Insurance 1.74
7 Africa Insurance 1.61
8 Nile Insurance 1.60
9 Tsehay Insurance 1.40
10 Lion Insurance 1.37

Financial year ended 30 June 2025. Source: each company’s 2024/25 annual report or audited financial statements; see the full list of sources below.

The ranking

1. Ethiopian Insurance Corporation: ETB 13.23 billion

The state owned EIC wrote ETB 13.23 billion in premiums, ETB 12.89 billion of it in general insurance and ETB 346 million in life, according to its audited financial statements. That was a 56 percent increase from ETB 8.51 billion and gives EIC about a third of the market. EIC is nearly three times the size of its nearest competitor. See EIC’s listing.

2. Awash Insurance: ETB 4.53 billion

Awash Insurance is the largest private insurer. Its premiums across general, life and Takaful business rose from ETB 3.12 billion to ETB 4.53 billion. It is also the country’s largest life insurer, with ETB 656 million in life premiums. See Awash Insurance’s listing.

3. Nyala Insurance: ETB 3.05 billion

Nyala nearly doubled its premiums, up 90.3 percent from ETB 1.60 billion, the fastest growth among the large insurers. Engineering cover made up 43 percent of its general insurance business. See Nyala Insurance’s listing.

4. Hibret Insurance: ETB 2.75 billion

Hibret Insurance, formerly United Insurance, grew premiums 40 percent from ETB 1.96 billion and passed ETB 1 billion in profit before tax for the first time. See Hibret Insurance’s listing.

5. Oromia Insurance: ETB 2.7 billion

Oromia Insurance grew premiums 27 percent from ETB 2.15 billion. Its Takaful revenue more than doubled. The company reports its premium only as a rounded ETB 2.7 billion and gives no unrounded figure in its annual report. Any rounding still leaves it in fifth place, well below Hibret and well above Nib.

6. Nib Insurance: ETB 1.74 billion

Nib’s premiums rose 37 percent. General insurance made up about 91 percent of the total and motor cover about half of its general business. See Nib Insurance’s listing.

7. Africa Insurance: ETB 1.61 billion

Africa Insurance wrote ETB 1.565 billion in general insurance and ETB 43 million in life. Motor cover made up about 74 percent of its general business. See Africa Insurance’s listing.

8. Nile Insurance: ETB 1.60 billion

Nile’s general insurance premiums rose 31 percent to ETB 1.48 billion. Life premiums fell to ETB 80 million and Takaful contributions doubled to ETB 38 million. The total is the sum of those three lines, which the report gives separately. Nile finished about ETB 8 million behind Africa Insurance. See Nile Insurance’s listing.

9. Tsehay Insurance: ETB 1.40 billion

Tsehay grew general insurance premiums 35 percent to ETB 1.365 billion and added ETB 31 million in life business.

10. Lion Insurance: ETB 1.37 billion

Lion’s consolidated premiums rose 31 percent from ETB 1.05 billion, almost all from general insurance. See Lion Insurance’s listing.

Just outside the list: Bunna Insurance (ETB 1.32 billion) and Abay Insurance (ETB 1.14 billion).

How we ranked

We ranked direct insurers licensed by the National Bank of Ethiopia by gross written premium (GWP) for the financial year ended 30 June 2025. GWP is the total premium a company writes in the year before reinsurance. We added general, life and Takaful premiums where a company reports them separately. Ethiopian Reinsurance is not included because it is a reinsurer.

Figures come from each company’s 2024/25 annual report or audited financial statements. Ethiopian insurers now report under the IFRS 17 standard, whose main statements show “insurance revenue” rather than GWP. For EIC and Bunna we took premiums from the insurance revenue note of the audited statements. For the others GWP comes from the management section of the annual report and is not itself an audited line item.

Places 7 to 10 are close. We also checked Bunna (ETB 1.32 billion), Abay (ETB 1.14 billion), National Insurance Company of Ethiopia, NICE (ETB 823 million) and Berhan (ETB 651 million) in their 2024/25 reports; none reached Lion’s ETB 1.37 billion. The ETB 1.22 billion NICE announced in July 2026 is its 2025/26 total. Ethio Life and General, Zemen, Lucy and Global reported premiums well under ETB 1 billion in the most recent figures we found, but we have not checked each of their 2024/25 reports line by line.

Sources

Industry totals are from the Nyala Insurance and Hibret Insurance annual reports, which quote National Bank of Ethiopia data. Company figures:

Insurers checked but outside the top 10:

Last updated: 18 October 2026.

Send corrections to the Ethiopialist editors.

Featured image: Simfan34, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).