How much does life insurance cost in Canada?
What sets your premium, and why no published average is your price
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Key Takeaways
- There is no single price. Your premium is built from your age, sex, tobacco use, health, coverage amount and type of contract.
- Rates rise with attained age, so applying later generally costs more for the same coverage.
- Term costs less than permanent at equal coverage because it can expire without paying a benefit.
- Cash value is not automatic on permanent insurance. Emma's T100 has none and is non-participating.
- Compare the same face amount, term and riders, and read the exclusions before you sign.
- The only real number is the personalized offer that follows an application.
How much does life insurance cost in Canada?
There is no single price, and anyone who gives you one without asking about you is guessing. A premium is built from your own profile: your age, your sex, whether you use tobacco, your health, the amount of coverage you choose and the type of contract you buy. Two people born the same year can pay very different amounts for identical coverage.
That is why you will not find a rate grid on this page. Any figure we published would be wrong for most people reading it, and it would go stale without anyone noticing. The real number comes from an application and the personalized offer that follows it. What this page can do is explain exactly what moves the price, so you can read a quote properly and compare two offers without being misled.
Emma's coverage is issued by Humania Assurance Inc. and distributed by Emma Services financiers Inc. The full conditions are in our policy specimen, which we publish openly.
What actually sets your premium
Insurers sort applicants into risk classes defined in the contract. Age, sex, tobacco use and health form that class. On top of it, the coverage amount, the length of the contract and any optional riders you add change what you pay. The AMF explains the factors that influence premiums in Québec if you want a regulator's view.
| Factor | Effect on the premium | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Age at application | Part of the risk class used to set your rate. | The rate is based on your age when you apply, not when you first thought about it. |
| Sex | Part of the risk class defined in the contract. | Compare quotes built from the same information. |
| Tobacco use | Part of the risk class defined in the contract. | Answer the questions as they are worded. A misrepresentation can void the contract. |
| Health | Can change the rate offered or the conditions attached to it. | The insurer's assessment of your application determines the class. |
| Coverage amount | More coverage generally costs more. | Always compare the same face amount. |
| Type of contract | Lifetime coverage costs more than temporary coverage for the same amount. | Do not compare a term quote to a permanent quote as if they were the same product. |
| Term length | A longer guaranteed period generally costs more at the start. | Check what happens at the end of the term. |
| Riders | Each optional benefit carries its own premium. | Ask which riders are included in the number you were shown. |
Life insurance rates by age: what really changes
Age is the one factor you cannot work on. Rates rise with attained age because the insurer is pricing the probability of a claim, and that probability climbs over time. This is the honest version of the "rates by age chart" people look for: the direction is reliable, the dollar figures behind it are not, because they only exist once your health and coverage amount are known.
What changes with age is not just the price. The reason you need coverage changes too, and so does the contract that fits.
| Life stage | What usually drives the need | What to look at in your quote |
|---|---|---|
| 20s | Student debt, a first mortgage, a partner who shares expenses. | Your rate is set at your current age. Locking a longer term early keeps that class in place for longer. |
| 30s | Mortgage, young children, income replacement. | Match the term to how long the need lasts, not to a round number. |
| 40s | Remaining mortgage, education costs, business obligations. | Check whether the coverage you bought earlier still matches what you owe. |
| 50s | The end of working years, estate planning, final expenses. | Ask what your renewal premium becomes and whether conversion is still available to you. |
| 60s and beyond | Final expenses, taxes on an estate, a gift to family. | Coverage that ends at a set date may not fit a need that has no end date. |
If you are not sure what amount belongs in that quote, start with how much life insurance you need or run our life insurance calculator first. Pricing the wrong amount is the most common way people end up comparing quotes that were never comparable.
Term or permanent: where the cost difference comes from
Temporary coverage is less expensive at the same face amount for one structural reason: it can expire without ever paying a benefit. Permanent coverage is built to pay whenever death occurs, so the insurer prices for a claim that will happen.
Emma offers both. Emma Term covers a period you choose at application, from 10 to 35 years in one-year steps, with issue ages of 18 to 80 and coverage from 50,000 to 5,000,000 CAD. It renews annually to age 80 without new evidence of insurability, and renewal premiums follow the schedule in the contract and rise with your attained age. Until age 65 you can convert it to a non-participating whole life policy without evidence of insurability, at a premium based on your attained age, the rates in effect and your risk class.
Emma T100 is the permanent option. Issue ages 18 to 80, coverage from 1,000 to 5,000,000 CAD, and level premiums payable until the policy anniversary nearest your 100th birthday. After that the coverage stays in force with no further premium. It is not renewable and not convertible.
| Element | Emma Term | Emma T100 |
|---|---|---|
| Length of coverage | The term you choose, 10 to 35 years | Lifetime |
| Premium behaviour | Level during the term, reset at each renewal on attained age | Level, payable to the anniversary nearest age 100 |
| Starting cost at equal coverage | Lower | Higher |
| Cash surrender value | None | None |
| Participating | No | No |
| Common use | Mortgage, debts, income replacement | Final expenses, estate, a legacy |
Cash value: the check that explains a large price gap
A lot of content online treats cash value as an automatic feature of permanent insurance. It is not. Some permanent products accumulate a surrender value, others accumulate none at all, and that single difference can explain why two permanent quotes for the same face amount look nothing alike.
Emma's T100 has no cash surrender value and is non-participating. The premium funds the death benefit, not a savings account inside the contract. If your goal is leaving a set amount to your family without paying for an accumulation component, that is a coherent choice. If your goal is a savings vehicle, you are looking for a different product, and whole life insurance is where that conversation starts.
When you compare two permanent offers, confirm this before you compare anything else. Otherwise you are pricing two different things.
What is not covered
Price is only half of a contract. The other half is what the insurer will not pay. Our contracts include the following limitations, among others.
- Suicide within the first two years following the effective date.
- A misrepresentation on the application, which can void the contract.
- Death resulting from a criminal act.
- Death during certain named high-risk activities, including mountaineering, ice climbing, scuba diving outside a resort setting, paragliding, parasailing, hang gliding, skydiving, bungee jumping, heli-skiing, off-piste skiing, off-trail snowmobiling, aviation other than commercial pilots, auto racing and kitesurfing.
A quote that ignores these is not cheaper. It is just less complete.
How to compare two quotes properly
- Same face amount, same term length, same riders. Change one and the comparison is meaningless.
- Check whether a cash value is included. It changes the price and the purpose of the contract.
- Ask when premiums stop and what happens at renewal, not only what the first payment is.
- Confirm whether the number is an estimate or a confirmed offer. An estimate can change once the insurer assesses your application.
- Read the exclusions in the specimen before you sign, not after a claim.
Frequently asked questions
How much does life insurance cost per month?
It depends entirely on your risk class, the amount you want and the contract you choose, so a monthly figure quoted without that information tells you nothing. The fastest honest answer is an application: it takes minutes online and produces a number that is actually yours.
What is the cheapest type of life insurance?
At equal coverage, temporary insurance generally costs less than permanent insurance, because it covers a defined period rather than a whole life. Cheapest is not the same as most suitable. If the need outlasts the term, a policy that expires is not a saving.
Does life insurance get more expensive as I get older?
Your rate is set from your age at application, and it stays level for the period covered by your contract. Applying later generally means a higher rate for the same coverage, and on a renewable term policy renewal premiums follow the schedule in the contract and rise with your attained age.
Do I need a medical exam to get life insurance?
Every application includes health questions, since health is part of the risk class defined in the contract. Depending on your answers, your age and the amount requested, the insurer may ask for additional information. Emma also offers a permanent option with simplified eligibility for people whose health makes regular underwriting difficult. It has its own eligibility criteria and an initial benefit limitation: if death is related directly or indirectly to an illness within the first 24 months following the effective date or reinstatement, the insurer refunds the premiums paid instead of paying the face amount, subject to the conditions of the contract. Our page on no medical life insurance covers how that works.
Can I lower my premium later?
Reducing your coverage amount lowers the premium, and it is a common move once a mortgage is largely paid down. Your risk class is set at issue, so an improvement in health after issue does not automatically reduce what you pay on an existing contract. Talk to an advisor before cancelling anything that is in force.
Is the death benefit taxable?
The amount paid to your named beneficiaries is not taxable to them. That is one reason coverage is used in estate planning, and our life insurance overview goes through the main uses.
Get your own number
Your premium comes from your age, your sex, your tobacco use, your health, the coverage you choose and the contract behind it. No published average can stand in for that combination. The only way to know your real price is to complete an application and receive a personalized offer. You can do it yourself online or ask an advisor for help along the way.
Jacomo Deschatelets, CMO & Cofounder, Life Insurance Expert
Questions? Email us at editorial@emma.ca
Jacomo Deschatelets
Questions about this page? Email us at editorial@emma.ca
