Segment Information (Earnings) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Revenues
Premiums									$ 37,674	$ 37,975	$ 36,361
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									9,451	8,556	7,806
Net investment income									22,232	21,984	19,585
Other revenues									1,920	1,906	2,532
Net investment gains (losses)									161	(352)	(867)
Net derivative gains (losses)									(3,239)	(1,919)	4,824
Total revenues	18,458	16,337	15,721	17,683	17,333	16,503	18,398	15,916	68,199	68,150	70,241
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									39,366	39,356	36,917
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									8,179	7,729	5,603
Goodwill impairment									0	1,868	0
Capitalization of DAC									(4,786)	(5,289)	(5,558)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									3,550	4,199	4,898
Amortization of negative VOBA									(579)	(622)	(697)
Interest expense on debt									1,282	1,356	1,629
Other expenses									17,135	18,111	18,265
Total expenses	17,190	15,361	15,160	16,436	17,810	17,513	15,060	16,325	64,147	66,708	61,057
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									661	128	2,793
Income (loss) from continuing operations, net of income tax	915	973	508	995	105	(957)	2,300	(134)	3,391	1,314	6,391
Retail [Member]
Expenses
Goodwill impairment										1,692	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									850	1,603	2,365
Group, Voluntary & Worksite Benefits [Member]
Expenses
Goodwill impairment										0	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									140	133	186
Corporate Benefit Funding [Member]
Expenses
Goodwill impairment										0	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									23	22	17
Latin America [Member]
Expenses
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									310	228	211
Asia [Member]
Expenses
Goodwill impairment										0	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,527	1,567	1,505
Europe, the Middle East and Africa [Member]
Expenses
Goodwill impairment										0	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									699	644	613
Corporate & Other [Member]
Expenses
Goodwill impairment										176	65
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1	2	1
Operating Segments [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									37,675	37,911	36,269
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									9,085	8,212	7,528
Net investment income									20,584	20,472	19,638
Other revenues									1,954	1,756	1,652
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									69,298	68,351	65,087
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									37,968	37,770	36,241
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									6,015	6,242	6,057
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(4,786)	(5,284)	(5,549)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									4,083	4,177	4,355
Amortization of negative VOBA									(524)	(555)	(619)
Interest expense on debt									1,159	1,190	1,304
Other expenses									16,615	16,680	16,620
Total expenses									60,530	60,220	58,409
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									2,359	2,323	1,879
Operating earnings									6,409	5,808	4,799
Operating Segments [Member] | Americas [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									27,461	27,141	26,022
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									6,838	6,233	5,715
Net investment income									16,790	16,339	15,713
Other revenues									1,737	1,576	1,433
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									52,826	51,289	48,883
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									31,111	30,636	29,586
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									4,136	4,293	4,284
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(1,901)	(2,273)	(2,835)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,857	1,986	2,255
Amortization of negative VOBA									(2)	(5)	(6)
Interest expense on debt									10	8	11
Other expenses									9,599	9,573	9,870
Total expenses									44,810	44,218	43,165
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									2,649	2,302	1,866
Operating earnings									5,367	4,769	3,852
Operating Segments [Member] | Retail [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									6,528	6,532	6,711
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									4,912	4,561	4,096
Net investment income									7,898	7,670	7,414
Other revenues									1,018	879	779
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									20,356	19,642	19,000
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									9,028	9,010	9,220
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									2,331	2,375	2,412
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(1,309)	(1,753)	(2,339)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,384	1,607	1,845
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									0	0	1
Other expenses									5,084	5,369	5,854
Total expenses									16,518	16,608	16,993
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									1,314	1,032	672
Operating earnings									2,524	2,002	1,335
Operating Segments [Member] | Group, Voluntary & Worksite Benefits [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									15,250	14,794	13,949
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									688	662	630
Net investment income									1,856	1,768	1,768
Other revenues									418	422	390
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									18,212	17,646	16,737
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									14,227	13,691	13,015
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									155	167	178
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(141)	(138)	(176)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									140	133	186
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									1	1	0
Other expenses									2,380	2,351	2,198
Total expenses									16,762	16,205	15,401
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									488	481	445
Operating earnings									962	960	891
Operating Segments [Member] | Corporate Benefit Funding [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									2,859	3,237	2,848
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									247	225	232
Net investment income									5,790	5,703	5,506
Other revenues									278	259	249
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									9,174	9,424	8,835
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									5,402	5,704	5,287
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									1,233	1,358	1,323
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(27)	(29)	(25)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									23	22	17
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									9	8	9
Other expenses									523	478	513
Total expenses									7,163	7,541	7,124
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									704	659	599
Operating earnings									1,307	1,224	1,112
Operating Segments [Member] | Latin America [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									2,824	2,578	2,514
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									991	785	757
Net investment income									1,246	1,198	1,025
Other revenues									23	16	15
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									5,084	4,577	4,311
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									2,454	2,231	2,064
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									417	393	371
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(424)	(353)	(295)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									310	224	207
Amortization of negative VOBA									(2)	(5)	(6)
Interest expense on debt									0	(1)	1
Other expenses									1,612	1,375	1,305
Total expenses									4,367	3,864	3,647
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									143	130	150
Operating earnings									574	583	514
Operating Segments [Member] | Asia [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									7,801	8,344	7,716
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									1,722	1,491	1,343
Net investment income									2,915	2,895	2,475
Other revenues									92	26	36
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									12,530	12,756	11,570
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									5,755	5,819	5,239
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									1,690	1,784	1,607
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(2,143)	(2,288)	(2,045)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,542	1,563	1,486
Amortization of negative VOBA									(427)	(456)	(560)
Interest expense on debt									0	5	0
Other expenses									4,312	4,738	4,522
Total expenses									10,729	11,165	10,249
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									557	554	441
Operating earnings									1,244	1,037	880
Operating Segments [Member] | Europe, the Middle East and Africa [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									2,297	2,370	2,477
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									386	333	315
Net investment income									498	535	562
Other revenues									97	121	123
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									3,278	3,359	3,477
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									1,039	1,196	1,290
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									147	126	166
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(714)	(723)	(669)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									683	626	613
Amortization of negative VOBA									(95)	(94)	(53)
Interest expense on debt									1	1	0
Other expenses									1,810	1,810	1,723
Total expenses									2,871	2,942	3,070
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									78	146	156
Operating earnings									329	271	251
Operating Segments [Member] | Corporate & Other [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									116	56	54
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									139	155	155
Net investment income									381	703	888
Other revenues									28	33	60
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									664	947	1,157
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									63	119	126
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									42	39	0
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(28)	0	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1	2	1
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									1,148	1,176	1,293
Other expenses									894	559	505
Total expenses									2,120	1,895	1,925
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									(925)	(679)	(584)
Operating earnings									(531)	(269)	(184)
Significant Reconciling Items [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									(1)	64	92
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									366	344	278
Net investment income									1,648	1,512	(53)
Other revenues									(34)	150	880
Net investment gains (losses)									161	(352)	(867)
Net derivative gains (losses)									(3,239)	(1,919)	4,824
Total revenues									(1,099)	(201)	5,154
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									1,398	1,586	676
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									2,164	1,487	(454)
Goodwill impairment									0	1,868	0
Capitalization of DAC									0	(5)	(9)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									(533)	22	543
Amortization of negative VOBA									(55)	(67)	(78)
Interest expense on debt									123	166	325
Other expenses									520	1,431	1,645
Total expenses									3,617	6,488	2,648
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									$ (1,698)	$ (2,195)	$ 914