Insurance can play a significant role in helping countries achieve the UN SDGs in terms of economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection. This can be achieved through the risk transfer mechanisms of households, businesses, and the public sector. The paper has a twofold purpose. First, to help regulators and insurance policymakers in emerging markets make the case for supporting insurance market development through drawing more attention to contribution the sector can make to achieving national SDGs. Secondly, to help investors, donors, international organizations focus their insurance market development efforts in countries where the sector has the maximum potential to contribute to the achievement of SDGs. This paper considers the role of insurance companies as underwriters facilitating risk transfer, as investors and asset managers and as corporate citizens and employers. The underwriting dimension is currently the most significant but all three have a role to play in supporting the SDGs. The paper also discusses how insurance can contribute more to these goals, including through targeted interventions in countries where conditions for right for insurance market development and SGD targets will need greater support to be met. Countries were screened for performance vs. the selected SDGs, by the potential for insurance sector development, as well as for minimum necessary enabling conditions for market growth. The paper concludes that the role of insurance has been somewhat overlooked in the context of the SDGs and that this is largely because the current indicators largely do not capture metrics relating to insurance. To be able to better assess the role of insurance and motivate the industry to contribute more to the SDGs, more consistent and disaggregated data collection on the following is recommended: lines of business; invested assets; gender disaggregated data. The UN, governments and the insurance industry are also encouraged to put greater emphasis on developing the sector as a means to achieving the SDGs.