Unlike life assurance policies, such annuities did not put a price on human life, and therefore the sale of annuities was not deemed to be unethical." Today, both life insurance and life annuities are an integral part of the pension companies' activities, and the pension sector is an important element of the economy – and its business is not deemed unethical.
The sector's transactions have major implications for the individual citizen, not only because of the popularity of pension saving schemes among wage earners and the self-employed, but also due to the volume of the assets managed. Only 15 years ago, the Danes' total pension savings (via pension companies) amounted to just under kr. 350 billion, equivalent to 40 per cent of GDP.