México City, México - Unlike the United States or Canada, compulsory insurance is rare in México. One example of compulsory insurance is the requirement for liability insurance for all vehicles that drive on federal roads and highways.

Jose Antonio Meade, Secretary of the Treasury and Public Credit, said that currently the total assets of the insurance industry in México amounted to 5 percent of the gross domestic product. Those assets have been growing since 2006 at rates above the national economic growth.

He said that although last year the insurance industry grew in terms of total premiums at a rate of 10.4 percent, and in terms of assets at a rate of 12.1 percent; there are still challenges for the industry in México.

Today only 6.7 million people in the country have health insurance and 7.8 million have life insurance. Antonio Meade said that at the household level, only 4.5 percent of the dwellings are insured, and only 26 percent of all automobiles are insured.

On the implementation of micro life insurance in México, he said that in 2011 8.8 million people had such coverage. A total of $27.6 million was paid out as the result of the deaths of over 13 thousand insured. The official said that microinsurance has become a coverage option for society by its simplicity and accessibility in operation and price.