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Commitments and Contingent Liabilities (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	Mar. 31, 2015 credit_facilities	Dec. 31, 2014
Commitments And Contingent Liabilities [Line Items]
Undrawn outstanding letters of credit in favor of third parties	$ 159,900,000rga_UndrawnOutstandingLettersOfCreditInFavorOfThirdParties	$ 176,500,000rga_UndrawnOutstandingLettersOfCreditInFavorOfThirdParties
Undrawn outstanding letters of credit between subsidiaries	1,335,600,000rga_UndrawnOutstandingLettersOfCreditBetweenSubsidiaries	1,035,000,000rga_UndrawnOutstandingLettersOfCreditBetweenSubsidiaries
Number of credit facilities	8rga_Numberofcreditfacilities
Credit Facility 850 Million [Member]
Commitments And Contingent Liabilities [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity	850,000,000us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumBorrowingCapacity / us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis = rga_CreditFacility850MillionMember
Letter of Credit [Member]
Commitments And Contingent Liabilities [Line Items]
Number of credit facilities	7rga_Numberofcreditfacilities / us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis = us-gaap_LetterOfCreditMember
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity	$ 818,500,000us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumBorrowingCapacity / us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis = us-gaap_LetterOfCreditMember

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Number of credit facilities

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Undrawn outstanding letters of credit between subsidiaries of the Company.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Undrawn outstanding letters of credit in favor of third parties.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

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

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 210

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682



Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

-Section 02

-Paragraph 19, 22

-Article 5

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