Insurance in Syria

Syria has an established insurance sector regulated mainly by the هيئة الإشراف على التأمين (SISC) under Legislative Decree 68/2004 and Legislative Decree 43/2005. The Ministry of Finance provides political oversight, while licensed insurers, agents, brokers and third-party administrators handle contracts and claims. Legislative Decree 43/2005 covers motor, property, liability, accident, marine, aviation, energy, engineering, health, life, savings, agriculture and other insurance lines. التأمين التكافلي, or takaful insurance, is also present in the market. Statutory social insurance is administered by the المؤسسة العامة للتأمينات الاجتماعية under Law 92/1959 and later amendments. It is mainly linked to employment and occupation rather than residence. Coverage can include employees in industry, commerce, agriculture and the public sector, with specific arrangements for some self-employed workers and Syrian citizens abroad. The system provides old-age, disability, survivors' and work-injury and occupational-disease benefits. Sickness and maternity costs are generally handled through employer responsibilities. Syria has no statutory unemployment benefit or general statutory family allowance under the cited social-insurance framework. A verified policy profile dated 1 January 2022 listed contributions of 7% for employees, an optional additional 1% for disability or death coverage, 14.1% for employers and 21.1% for self-employed workers, with a separate 3% employer contribution for work-injury coverage. The contribution base and official rates may have changed because of inflation and reform, so current figures require confirmation from the relevant social-insurance office. Pension access depends on age, contribution history and the applicable category; the cited rules include different retirement routes for men and women and generally require 15, 20 or 25 years of contributions. The pension formula uses 2.5% of reference earnings per contribution year, subject to an 80% maximum in the cited framework. Private insurance is purchased directly from a licensed insurer or through an agent or broker. Health policies often use a third-party administrator and a provider network. The policy determines the insured sum, premium, deductible, exclusions, renewal, cancellation, payment duties and claim evidence. There is no single nationwide private-policy standard that fixes all premiums, renewal rights or claim deadlines. Private premiums are risk-based and vary by product, insurer and insured risk. Compulsory motor third-party liability insurance is separate from optional comprehensive cover. A vehicle owner without a valid policy remains responsible for covered damage to third parties from personal funds. The Ministry of Transport and SISC have worked on improving issuance and claims handling, and future pricing may take violations or accident history into account, but a new nationwide tariff cannot be assumed from the available information. In 2022, motor policies could be issued through six border locations and 51 inland locations; current regional access can change with branch, security and infrastructure conditions. The market included 13 insurance companies at 31 December 2024, with reported turnover of SYP 570 billion. Health represented about 49.7% of the reported portfolio, motor 23% and transport 10%. A 2022 market structure recorded one state insurer, twelve private insurers including two takaful companies, one reinsurer and seven third-party administrators. The same period recorded 198 access points, including branches, offices and bank distribution points, across ten provinces, with larger concentrations in Damascus, Homs, Latakia, Aleppo and Tartous. These figures describe dated market conditions rather than guaranteed current availability. A claim normally begins with prompt notification to the insurer, agent or broker according to the policy. Typical evidence includes the policy, identity documents, a police report, medical or forensic reports and proof of repair, loss or ownership, depending on the case. The insurer or its loss adjuster assesses the damage and then decides on settlement within the policy and applicable law. No uniform nationwide claim-service deadline is established in the available evidence. Complaints can be followed up with the insurer and SISC; insurance disputes can then proceed through the first-instance and appeal civil insurance courts in the relevant province under Law 5/2017. A cited general limitation period for insurance claims is three years from knowledge of the event or insured risk, but its application should be checked for the individual case. For bodily injury or death caused by an unidentified vehicle, the صندوق تعويض متضرري حوادث السير مجهولة المسبب can provide a functional compensation mechanism under SISC. Police, medical or forensic and identity evidence is typically required, and the fund is not shown to provide general compensation for vehicle or property damage. A planned new insurance law, licensing requirements, capital-adequacy rules and related reforms were under development in 2026; no evidence in the supplied research confirms that these proposals had entered into force by September 2026.