China Life Insurance Co Ltd, one of the country's largest insurers, reported a sharp jump in annual profit for 2025, fueled by strong investment returns and a shift toward higher-value products, although premium growth slowed amid an industry-wide transition.

Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 44.1 percent year-on-year to 154.08 billion yuan ($21.2 billion) in 2025, while total premium income increased 8.7 percent to 729.9 billion yuan, the company said in its annual results released on Wednesday night.

The insurer's total investment income climbed 25.8 percent to 387.7 billion yuan, with the overall investment yield rising to 6.09 percent, one of its strongest performances in recent years.

"As one of the world's largest life insurers, China Life achieved a 'full harvest' in 2025 with stronger growth momentum, improved resilience and expanded customer protection," Cai Xiliang, chairman of company, said during the earnings briefing on Thursday.?

China Life remained the dominant player in China's life insurance market. Total assets rose to 7.59 trillion yuan, while investment assets reached 7.42 trillion yuan. Embedded value — a key measure of long-term profitability for insurers — climbed to 1.47 trillion yuan.

The company also maintained solid capital buffers, with its core solvency ratio at 128.77 percent and its comprehensive solvency ratio at 174.01 percent, comfortably above regulatory requirements.

Investment performance was the main driver of the profit surge as the insurer increased its exposure to equities and captured market opportunities during the year.

Liu Hui, vice-president of the company, said China Life raised its equity allocation by nearly five percentage points in 2025, bringing publicly traded equity investments to more than 1.2 trillion yuan.

China Life also accelerated a shift toward participating and market-linked insurance products, which tie policyholder returns partly to investment performance.

The transition helped lift its new business value by 35.7 percent to 45.75 billion yuan, the fastest pace since 2017, outperforming most peers in China's life insurance sector.