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Investments (Amortized Cost and Fair Value of Fixed Maturity Holdings by Industry Type) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Corporate Securities by Investment Sector And Credit Rating [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	$ 14,084,589us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost	$ 14,010,604us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost
Estimated Fair Value	15,179,135us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities	14,885,583us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities
% of Total	100.00%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities	100.00%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities
Finance
Corporate Securities by Investment Sector And Credit Rating [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	4,842,257us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_FinanceIndustryMember	4,789,568us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_FinanceIndustryMember
Estimated Fair Value	5,186,461us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_FinanceIndustryMember	5,066,408us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_FinanceIndustryMember
% of Total	34.20%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_FinanceIndustryMember	34.00%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_FinanceIndustryMember
Industrial
Corporate Securities by Investment Sector And Credit Rating [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	7,699,936us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_IndustrialMember	7,639,330us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_IndustrialMember
Estimated Fair Value	8,270,678us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_IndustrialMember	8,086,067us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_IndustrialMember
% of Total	54.40%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_IndustrialMember	54.30%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_IndustrialMember
Utility
Corporate Securities by Investment Sector And Credit Rating [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	1,542,396us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_UtilityIndustryMember	1,581,706us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_UtilityIndustryMember
Estimated Fair Value	$ 1,721,996us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_UtilityIndustryMember	$ 1,733,108us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_UtilityIndustryMember
% of Total	11.40%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_UtilityIndustryMember	11.70%rga_PercentageOfTotalAvailableForSaleSecurities / invest_InvestmentSectorAxis = rga_UtilityIndustryMember

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Percentage of available for sale securities

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Amount of investment in debt and equity securities categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 320

-SubTopic 10

-Section 25

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (b)

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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 320

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 5

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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27724398&loc=d3e27232-111563



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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

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+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 210

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

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