A rebound in sales of life insurance products helped China's insurance market to grow faster in the first five months of this year.

The growth more than doubled the 4.5 percent annual expansion recorded from January to May last year.

Domestic and foreign insurers reaped a total of 774.3 billion yuan in premiums in the first five months, a surge of 9.4 percent from a year earlier, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said yesterday.

Property and casualty insurance companies generated a premium income of 16.84 percent annually, 2 percentage points faster than seen in the first five months of last year.

Life insurance firms' premiums rose 5.88 percent, up from a nearly flat growth last year.

Zhang Ying, an analyst with Industrial Securities Co, said life insurance premiums continued to recover this year as innovative products were launched while competition from banks' wealth management products eased.

Demand for property and casualty insurance will remain high, according to Zhang.