Life insurance revenue last year dropped dramatically, according to the latest figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Total revenue for the year ending December 31 was $14.8 billion, compared to $23.5 billion in 2010.

Net premiums for last year were $43.8 billion, compared to $41.4 billion in 2010. Net policy payments were $42.2 billion last year, against $39.2 billion in 2010.

The industry also saw a decline in total expenses, down from $19.3 billion in 2010 to $11.4 billion last year.

There was a slight rise in new policy commissions, up from $1.3 billion in 2010 to $1.4 billion last year.

Ongoing commissions also saw a slight rise from $1.8 billion in 2010 to $1.98 billion last year.

Life insurers had a rough time with their investments, recording $12.5 billion of losses last year compared to losses of $322 million in 2010.

But despite the growing losses, income from investments rose from $11.6 billion in 2010 to $14.1 billion last year.

Despite these wild swings in revenue and expenses, the profitability of the life industry was about the same.

Net after-tax profit for 2011 was $2.61 billion compared to $2.64 billion in 2010.

The fall in profits was also reflected in the decline of total assets held by life insurers.

At December 31 2010 the insurers held $236.5 billion of total assets. This had fallen to $230 billion by the end of last year.

But net assets saw a slight rise during the same period, up from $17.5 billion in 2010 to $18.8 billion last year.