Cambodia's insurance industry earned a total premium of $36 million last year, a 21 percent rise year-on-year, according to the industry's report on Monday.

The main sectors of the premium are from fire insurance of 28 percent, motor insurance of 19 percent, personal accident insurance of 18 percent, health insurance of 14 percent, and miscellaneous insurance, said the report of the General Insurance Association of Cambodia (GIAC).

Last year, the total amount of claims paid out by local insurers was also high - about 15.8 million US dollars, it said.

Ty Atith, assistant to the GIAC's President Chhay Rattanak, said Monday that the growth was thanks to better economic performance, predicting that the sector could grow by another 20 percent this year.

To date, the country has nine insurers including six general insurance companies and three life insurers.