Condensed Financial Information (Parent Company) (Loans to Subsidiaries - Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parent Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Parent Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Interest Income [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parent Company [Member] Interest Income [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Parent Company [Member] Interest Income [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Parent Company [Member] Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Capital Note [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Parent Company [Member] Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Surplus Note [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] MetLife Reinsurance Company of Delaware Surplus Note [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parent Company [Member] MetLife Reinsurance Company of Delaware Surplus Note [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] MetLife Ireland Treasury Limited loan from MetLife, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Note Issued To Metlife Reinsurance Company Of Delaware [Member] Senior Notes Affiliated [Member] Parent Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Note Issued To Metlife Reinsurance Company Of Delaware [Member] Senior Notes Affiliated [Member] Parent Company [Member]
Notes to Condensed Financial Information of Parent Company (Textuals) [Abstract]
Effective date of acquisition	Nov. 01, 2010
Loans to Subsidiaries, Repayment Amount		$ 645,000,000	$ 175,000,000	$ 1,275,000,000				$ 500,000,000	$ 775,000,000			$ 245,000,000
Loans to subsidiaries and affiliates		2,333,000,000	750,000,000							350,000,000	750,000,000	1,500,000,000
Loans to subsidiaries, maturity date										Dec. 01, 2033	Sep. 30, 2032	Jul. 01, 2023
Loans to subsidiaries, debt instrument, interest rate, effective percentage										6.00%	5.13%	8.50%
Senior notes		15,938,000,000	15,669,000,000										350,000,000	750,000,000
Loans to Subsidiaries, Interest Income					103,000,000	1,000,000	40,000,000
Long Term Debt Aggregate Maturities, Year One		1,900,000,000
Long Term Debt Aggregate Maturities, Year Two		1,300,000,000
Long Term Debt Aggregate Maturities, Year Three		1,700,000,000
Long Term Debt Aggregate Maturities, Year Four		500,000,000
Long Term Debt Aggregate Maturities, Year Five		1,500,000,000
Long Term Debt Aggregate Maturities, After Year Five		$ 12,600,000,000