This paper presents the results of a study of the determination of life insurance demand in Poland. A characterisation of the Polish life insurance sector is given, including a comparison with the top ten emerging markets and other CEE countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic. The characterisation is followed by a review of the previous studies of life insurance determinants. Subsequently, factor analysis is applied to distinguish independent factors that determine demand for life insurance. Then a linear regression model is used to identify both the factors that have determined life insurance in Poland and the extent thereof. However, as opposed to previous studies of life insurance demand, only distinguished factors are used as an independent variable. The study confirms that factors of an economic and financial nature strongly stimulate the demand for life insurance, which agrees with previous studies. However, some results contradict the previous findings such as the factor that includes variables such as education level and social benefits.