Insurance in Niger

The CNSS covers employees through family and maternity benefits, occupational risks, pensions for old age, disability and survivors, and a fund for health and social action. Access normally requires employer affiliation, worker registration, salary declarations and payment of contributions. Contributions are calculated on monthly wages from FCFA 30,047 to FCFA 500,000. The total CNSS rate is 21.65%: the employer pays 8.4% for family benefits, 1.75% for occupational risks and 6.25% for pensions, while the employee pays 5.25% for pensions. The employer also pays an additional 0.5% contribution to ANPE and submits a nominative quarterly declaration within the first 30 days of the quarter. Occupational-risk cover includes accidents at work, work-related travel, permitted journeys between home and work and some voluntary activities. An injured worker should notify the employer immediately. The employer provides first aid, records the incident and reports it to the CNSS and the labour inspectorate within 48 hours. If the employer fails to report, the worker or eligible dependants can report the case themselves within two years. A typical file contains the CNSS form and identity, birth, employment and insurance documents. Former employees may continue pension protection through voluntary CNSS insurance if they previously completed at least six uninterrupted months in the compulsory scheme and ended salaried work no more than six weeks before applying. This option does not include family benefits. The voluntary pension contribution is 11.5% of the declared monthly wage within the same FCFA 30,047 to FCFA 500,000 range. A normal old-age pension generally requires age 60, or age 55 for a woman on request, at least 20 years of CNSS registration, 180 months of insurance and the end of salaried work. A single payment may apply from 12 months of contributions when the pension conditions are not met. Disability and survivors' pensions have separate registration, contribution, medical and family conditions. Private insurance operates under the CIMA regional legal framework. A policy should identify the parties, insured person or property, covered risks, start and duration, insured amount, premium and payment method, renewal and termination rules, duties, claim procedure, payment period, loss assessment, limitation period and exclusions. Exclusions, forfeiture clauses and nullity provisions must be displayed clearly. Cover generally begins after the premium is paid. A maximum 60-day payment deferral is limited to certain large risks exceeding 80 times the annual SMIG and does not apply to motor, health or transported-goods insurance. Applicants should answer risk questions completely and disclose other insurance and relevant changes in the risk. A person or company can obtain private cover directly from an authorised insurer, through a courtier or through an agent général. Banks, financial institutions, microfinance providers and the Post may distribute insurance under CIMA conditions. The Ministry of Finance's national insurance control authority supervises insurers, intermediaries and experts in Niger, while the CRCA and CIMA handle regional authorisation, supervision and sanctions. Provider examples include SUNU Assurances IARD Niger, which offers motor, health, home, fire, professional, transport, liability and travel cover, and SUNU Assurances Vie Niger, which offers education, savings, retirement, group protection, death and end-of-career products. CAREN lists motor, health, home, travel, liability and business products including fire, theft, construction, transport, personal accident and business interruption cover. The provider reports 11 SUNU IARD agencies across Niger's regions. Motor third-party liability insurance, commonly called RC automobile, is compulsory for every land vehicle, including a trailer or semi-trailer. The insurance certificate must be kept with the vehicle. The cover protects third parties, including the vehicle holder, policyholder, driver or custodian, passengers and their family members when they qualify as third parties under the applicable rules. Niger created the Fonds de Garantie Automobile in 2014 for certain hit-and-run, unidentified or uninsured-vehicle cases, especially medical expenses and bodily injury. Its operational implementation was still being developed in 2025, so live access should be confirmed with the competent authority. For a private claim, the policy determines the reporting channel and deadline, but the CIMA minimum is generally five working days. Theft and livestock mortality have a 48-hour deadline. A change in the insured risk should generally be reported within 15 days. For motor bodily injury, the insurer's offer is normally due within 12 months of the accident, or within eight months of death in a fatal case; a reasoned response to a justified victim claim is due within 30 days. General contractual insurance claims normally have a two-year limitation period, while life claims and claims by beneficiaries after accidental death can have a ten-year period. A complaint usually goes first to the insurer or courtier, then to the national insurance control authority, and finally to the CRCA or CIMA where the regional framework applies. Keep the policy, certificate, claim notice, police report, medical records and civil-status documents that match the risk. For non-life insurance, cancellation is generally possible after the first year at annual expiry with two months' notice, using the policy's required channel or a registered letter, receipt-based notice or extrajudicial act. Changes of residence, profession, retirement or marital regime may create a separate cancellation right within three months, effective one month after receipt, with a proportional premium refund. Life insurance follows different rules. Failure to pay can lead to suspension or termination after the required notice period. The commercial market remains small. FANAF figures for 2023 recorded about FCFA 67.8 billion in direct life premiums and FCFA 34.5 billion in direct non-life premiums, or about FCFA 102.3 billion in total. This represented approximately 0.09% of GDP for life, 0.34% for non-life and 0.44% overall, with insurance density of about FCFA 352 per person for life, FCFA 1,276 for non-life and FCFA 1,628 overall. Non-life premiums were concentrated in bodily injury and health, motor, fire and other property, transport and general liability. Informal tontines and caisses de prévoyance can provide solidarity or savings support, but they are not CIMA insurance policies and do not provide the same proven solvency supervision or enforceable claim protection. Index-based agricultural insurance is developing through feasibility and strategy work for 2023 to 2027, but it is not established as a nationwide standard market. Health care itself is a separate topic; health insurance belongs here only when the question concerns the insurance product, premium, coverage or claim.