Despite changing economic conditions, this summer showed remarkable similarity to the previous two in application activity for individually written life insurance.

The July activity for all ages combined was down 0.9%, compared to the same period last year, according to the MIB Life Index.

People ages 60 and up showed the greatest application activity, with a 12.8% increase over July 2008, the index noted.

The 0-44 age group was off 4.8%, while ages 45-59 showed improvement over last year, logging a 0.8% increase in applications. At July’s close, the year’s U.S. life insurance application activity had fallen 1.8%, a half-percent ahead of the 2.3% decline found in July 2008.