Applications for life insurance in North America were off 6.6% in August on a year-over-year basis marking the seventh such decline in the last eight months.

U.S. applications fell 6.8% while Canadian applications fell 4.7% when compared to the same period last year.

Activity in the 60+ age group continues its record pace. The MIB Life Index value of 116.4 is the highest Index value ever recorded for the month of August. In the U.S., August activity in the 60+ segment increased 2.5% year-over-year; the third consecutive month of year-over-year increases and the sixth such increase in 2003.

In stark contrast, activity in the 45 and below age group declined by more than 9% over August 2002 levels.

In Canada, life insurance applications for the 60+ age group hit another milestone, 12 consecutive months of year-over-year increases.

“This summer’s results for the period June-July-August lagged last year’s activity both in the U.S. and Canada by almost 2% and 3% respectively,” said Stacy Gill, vice president at the MIB Group’s e-Services Corp., in a news release.