Condensed Financial Information (Parent Company) (Support Agreements - Narrative) (Details) (USD $)		12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 Mitsui Sumitomo MetLife Insurance Co Ltd (MSI MetLife) [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parent Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Parent Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement Exeter Obligations [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement MetLife Reinsurance Company of Vermont [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement MetLife Reinsurance Company of Charleston [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement MetLife Reinsurance Company of South Carolina [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement MetLife Investors Insurance Company and First MetLife Investors Insurance Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement MetLife Reinsurance Company of Delaware [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement - Guarantees of Subsidiary Derivative Obligations [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement - Guarantees of Subsidiary Derivative Obligations [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement MetLIfe Bank [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement MetLIfe Bank [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Parent Company [Member] Support Agreement - Exeter, MICC and MLI-USA [Member]	Oct. 29, 2013 Metlife Bank Liquidity Agreement [Member] Parent Company [Member]	Feb. 11, 2013 Metlife Bank Liquidity Agreement [Member] Parent Company [Member]	Jan. 09, 2013 Metlife Bank Liquidity Agreement [Member] Parent Company [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Term															500
Line of Credit Facility, Amount Outstanding																$ 0
Line of Credit Facility, Interest Rate Description															0.0247
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity																	100,000,000	500,000,000
Guaranteed adjusted capital levels						equal to or greater than 200% of authorized control level risk-based capital	equal to or greater than 200% of the company action level risk-based capital	equal to or greater than 100% of authorized control level risk-based capital	equal to or greater than 150% of the company action level risk-based capital	equal to or greater than 200% of the company action level risk-based capital
Capital contributions to subsidiaries		748,000,000	1,223,000,000	1,439,000,000									21,000,000	34,000,000
Interest in Mitsui Sumitomo MetLife Insurance Co., LTD. (MSI MetLife)	50.00%
Amount guaranteed under support agreement					1,000,000,000
Minimum capital and surplus								250,000	10,000,000
Derivative Assets, Fair Value, Net											568,000,000	3,200,000,000
Estimated fair value of collateral provided to counterparties by the subsidiaries											651,000,000	12,000,000
Unsecured derivative liability positions guaranteed by MetLife, Inc.											734,000,000	22,000,000
Derivative Liability, Fair Value, Amount Offset Against Collateral											$ 83,000,000	$ 10,000,000