Research among more than 10,000 users of the Canstar product ratings website shows that more than 40% of people searching for life insurance are seeking cover above $1 million.

The next two most popular sums insured were $1.5 million (18%) and $750,000 (16%).

A Canstar spokesman says it shows people are thinking seriously about the cover they need.

“Australians seem keen to insure themselves for a robust amount of money in terms of their term life insurance needs,” he said.

The most common occupation group among users was white-collar professionals (25%), followed by senior white-collar executives (21%). Clerical roles (14.5%) were next, while less than 10% of online searchers identified as blue-collar workers.

“In terms of age, 35, 40 and 45 are the three most common ages for people to be searching for life insurance,” the spokesman said.

“About 33% of all searches are from those three year groups alone.”

Income protection cover attracted most searches at 52%, followed by term life (27%), total and permanent disability (12%) and trauma insurance (9%).