China's insurance premiums hit 492.73 billion yuan (about 62 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005, up 14 percent year on year, ranking 11th in the world, an official of China's insurance watchdog said Friday in Beijing.

Wu Dingfu, president of China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), told a national insurance work conference held here that life insurance premiums grew 14 percent year-on-year to 324.43 billion yuan. Health and accident insurance premiums hit 45.31 billion yuan, up 16.6 percent year on year.

According to CIRC statistics showed by the end of last year, the total assets of insurance companies reached 1.5 trillion yuan.

Wu said China's insurance market grew steadily and 22 new companies opened last year, increasing the country's number of insurance companies to 93, with insurance groups and share-holding companies standing at six, property insurance companies, 35; life insurance companies, 42; reinsurance companies, 5 and insurance fund management companies, 5.

Additionally, insurance agencies also witnessed fast growth last year. To date, there are more than 121,000 insurance agencies throughout China which employ 1.47 million people.

Source: Xinhua