Life and property-casualty insurers have recovered greatly from the ground it lost in the recession, according to a new analysis.

The property-casualty insurance industry’s net income nearly tripled in 2009, to $35 billion, according to a report from the Highline Data Performance Monitor.

The report, based on the aggregation of key statutory financial data reported by individual insurance companies every quarter, also revealed that the life insurance industry saw its net gains from operations reach a five-year high. Those gains, more than tripling in a year, reached $76.2 billion, up from last year’s five-year low of $17.6 billion, the report found.

Operational gains were caused by a greater decrease in premiums written, 16%, than in benefits paid, 14%, during the year. Those numbers in turn led to a return on equity for life insurers of 15.2%, another five-year high.

For property-casualty insurers, the absence of major catastrophes last year led to their biggest decline in net losses incurred, 11.3%, in the last decade, the report said.

While making gains, the industry remains behind where it was in recent years on many key measures, according to the report’s authors.

Despite their strong gains in 2009, the $35 billion in net income for property-casualty insurers was still less than half that seen in 2006, when it was $73.2 billion. Property-casualty insurers’ combined ratio, down to 101.3% from last year’s high of 105.1%, is still above the break-even point.  The combined ratio measures how well a company is performing its daily operations by combining the loss and expense ratios. Because the ratio was above 100%, the industry as a whole suffered an underwriting loss last year.

Meanwhile, continued pressure on interest rates in equity markets helped keep net investment income for life insurers at a five-year low of $154.5 billion at year’s end. Net yield likewise hit a five-year low of 5.1% last year.