China's insurance premium income increased 8 percent to 1.55 trillion yuan ($248 billion) in 2012, with health insurance premiums leading the growth, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.

The premiums of the life insurance sector hit 1.016 trillion yuan in 2012, up 4.5 percent year-on-year. And premiums of the non-life insurance sector rose 15.4 percent to 533 billion yuan.

Among life insurance premiums, health insurance premiums climbed 24.7 percent to 86.28 billion yuan, leading the growth among all the sectors.

In 2011, the country's life insurance premiums dropped 1.8 percent. The decline, according to a Swiss Re report, was partly driven by regulatory changes in 2011 that constrained bancassurance sales.

The total assets of the country's insurance industry jumped 22.29 percent year-on-year to 7.35 trillion yuan last year.