Historically, insurers have used age, health and occupation as the main factors which influence he cost of your life insurance. But now your post code is going to be taken into account as well.

Aviva, previously Norwich Union, has added your post code as a factor after using average life expectancy per post code to help price their pension annuities. Success with annuities has convinced them that it was time to add average life expectancy per post code to their life insurance underwriting. They believe that post code assessments will affect the premiums for about 30% of applicants, changing their premium by around 10% up or down.

But some social commentators are worried. They believe that it could create a post code lottery whereby people living in deprived areas will automatically have to pay more than those living in more affluent areas.

But we can see why Aviva are now taking account of post codes. A report by the World Health Organisation looking at Glasgow, found huge variations in life expectancy across small areas of the city. They give an example that a boy born this year in the Calton area of Glasgow could expect to live to 54 whereas if he lived in Lenzie a few miles away, his life expectancy would be 82. With such stark statistics as these it’s no wonder the life insurance industry is taking note.