During the month of September, the LIFE Foundation spearheads Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM), an industry-wide effort to raise the public’s awareness of the importance of life insurance to their families and businesses. What I’d like to do in the midst of the education campaign is to point out the life insurance industry’s importance to the American economy.

Let’s review some revealing statistics provided by the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). The insurance industry is one of the leading sources of new investment capital in the United States, but many of you may not realize just how significant these dollars are.

Life insurers have invested $4 trillion in the U.S. economy, including $1.2 trillion in new net investments in the five-year period between 2002 and 2006.

Life insurers are the largest source of bond financing for corporate America, and have been since the 1930s, with $1.9 trillion invested in 2006.

At the end of 2006, life insurers held over $579 billion in government bonds, which help fund urban renewal and support America’s infrastructure.

The industry holds about $314 billion in commercial mortgages and provided $58 billion in new financing to the commercial mortgage market in 2005.

Much of this investment helps life insurers to provide the products that protect against life’s uncertainties, helping individuals and families manage the financial risks of premature death, disability, long-term care, and outliving their savings. Life insurers have paid out billions in life, disability income, long-term care insurance, and annuity benefits–offering peace of mind, security and dignity to Americans when they need it most.

Beneficiaries of life insurance policies received $56 billion in death benefits in 2006.

Life insurers paid $71 billion in annuity benefits in 2006.

Life insurers paid $3.4 billion in long-term care insurance benefits in 2005.

Life insurers paid out $6.3 billion in disability benefits to replace lost income in 2001 (the most recent data available).

As we head into the final weeks of LIAM, know that we in the life insurance industry are proud of the impact we have had in providing security for individuals and their families, keeping family run companies together, providing benefits through employers and providing the investment capital which helps keep our economy running.