April showers and storms brought a decline in U.S. application activity for individually written life insurance, according to the MIB Life Index.

Sales among all age groups combined were down 1.4% for the month, compared to the same period in 2009, according to the monthly analysis of sales data from the Braintree, Mass., firm.

So far, the year has shown a vacillation in gains and losses, after strong growth in seven of the last nine months. However, gains are outpacing losses for the year, with activity overall up 0.6%.

April’s application activity was down 8% from March’s number, reflecting the seasonal norms, according to researchers for the MIB Life Index.

Ages 60 and above continued to lead, with a 10.5% increase over April 2009. Ages 0-44 showed a 4.6% decline, while ages 45-59 showed a small loss, at 0.8%.