Chennai, August 16: Nuclear families got hit more severely than joint families due to Covid-19, finds a study by HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd. Private life insurer HDFC Life said on Monday that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a drop of 4.8 points in 2021 Life Freedom Index (LFI) as compared to 2019.

Nuclear families have been the most impacted with an LFI drop of 10.5 points, while joint families have been stable, possibly due to a better support system in the time of crisis, finds the study.

As per HDFC Life's study, consumer confidence has been low post the two waves of Covid-19, and current financial plans seem inadequate. Hence, the most significant drop is observed in the financial sufficiency and adequacy index. COVID-19 Testing: Researchers Develop New Cheaper, Faster and More Accurate Coronavirus Diagnostic Test Using Pencil Lead.

The insurer said that LFI enables the measurement of 'financial freedom' of consumers across four key segments: Proud parents, wisdom investors, young aspirants and smart women.

It includes four sub-indices: Financial Awareness Index, Financial Planning Index, Financial Sufficiency and Adequacy Index, and Financial Liberty Index.

The latest 2021 LFI study was conducted along with NielsenIQ across 14 cities with 1,987 respondents. According to HDFC Life, some of the key findings are:

* The impact of Covid-19 is more severe across metros in comparison to Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. COVID-19 Vaccines Reduce Infection, Mortality Risk in Organ Transplant Patients, Study Reveals.

* Almost 90 per cent consumers have faced salary cuts or business losses to some extent, due to which the respondents are still concerned about Covid-19.

* Familiarity with term insurance increases by 11 points; for endowment and unit linked plans it is up by 10 points.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 16, 2021 10:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).