Segment Information (Earnings) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Sep. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2014	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Revenues
Premiums									$ 39,067	$ 37,674	$ 37,975
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									9,946	9,451	8,556
Net investment income									21,153	22,232	21,984
Other revenues									2,030	1,920	1,906
Net investment gains (losses)									(197)	161	(352)
Net derivative gains (losses)									1,317	(3,239)	(1,919)
Total revenues	19,119	18,846	18,266	17,085	18,458	16,337	15,721	17,683	73,316	68,199	68,150
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									40,478	39,366	39,356
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									6,943	8,179	7,729
Goodwill impairment									0	0	1,868
Capitalization of DAC									(4,183)	(4,786)	(5,289)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									4,132	3,550	4,199
Amortization of negative VOBA									(442)	(579)	(622)
Interest expense on debt									1,216	1,282	1,356
Other expenses									16,368	17,135	18,111
Total expenses	17,043	15,894	16,316	15,259	17,190	15,361	15,160	16,436	64,512	64,147	66,708
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									2,465	661	128
Income (loss) from continuing operations, net of income tax	1,527	2,094	1,376	1,342	915	973	508	995	6,339	3,391	1,314
Retail
Expenses
Goodwill impairment											1,692
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,610	850	1,603
Group, Voluntary & Worksite Benefits
Expenses
Goodwill impairment											0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									149	140	133
Corporate Benefit Funding
Expenses
Goodwill impairment											0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									19	23	22
Latin America
Expenses
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									321	310	228
Asia
Expenses
Goodwill impairment											0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,394	1,527	1,567
EMEA
Expenses
Goodwill impairment											0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									626	699	644
Corporate & Other
Expenses
Goodwill impairment											176
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									13	1	2
Operating Segments [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									39,022	37,583	37,355
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									9,541	9,085	8,212
Net investment income									20,484	20,394	20,287
Other revenues									2,033	1,954	1,756
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									71,080	69,016	67,610
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									39,478	37,746	37,105
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									5,661	6,015	6,242
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(4,182)	(4,786)	(5,284)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									4,027	4,083	4,177
Amortization of negative VOBA									(396)	(524)	(555)
Interest expense on debt									1,178	1,159	1,190
Other expenses									16,254	16,596	16,662
Total expenses									62,020	60,289	59,537
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									2,378	2,344	2,302
Operating earnings									6,682	6,383	5,771
Operating Segments [Member] | Americas
Revenues
Premiums									28,994	27,369	26,585
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									7,255	6,838	6,233
Net investment income									16,943	16,621	16,178
Other revenues									1,799	1,737	1,576
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									54,991	52,565	50,572
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									32,597	30,889	29,971
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									3,935	4,136	4,293
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(1,528)	(1,901)	(2,273)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									2,004	1,857	1,986
Amortization of negative VOBA									(1)	(2)	(5)
Interest expense on debt									11	10	8
Other expenses									9,455	9,580	9,555
Total expenses									46,473	44,569	43,535
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									2,814	2,641	2,289
Operating earnings									5,704	5,355	4,748
Operating Segments [Member] | Retail
Revenues
Premiums									7,280	6,528	6,532
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									5,074	4,912	4,561
Net investment income									7,953	7,898	7,670
Other revenues									1,059	1,018	879
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									21,366	20,356	19,642
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									9,851	9,028	9,010
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									2,245	2,331	2,375
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(969)	(1,309)	(1,753)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,515	1,384	1,607
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									1	0	0
Other expenses									4,695	5,084	5,369
Total expenses									17,338	16,518	16,608
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									1,382	1,314	1,032
Operating earnings									2,646	2,524	2,002
Operating Segments [Member] | Group, Voluntary & Worksite Benefits
Revenues
Premiums									15,979	15,250	14,794
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									716	688	662
Net investment income									1,844	1,856	1,768
Other revenues									420	418	422
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									18,959	18,212	17,646
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									14,897	14,227	13,691
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									156	155	167
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(143)	(141)	(138)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									149	140	133
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									1	1	1
Other expenses									2,570	2,380	2,351
Total expenses									17,630	16,762	16,205
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									464	488	481
Operating earnings									865	962	960
Operating Segments [Member] | Corporate Benefit Funding
Revenues
Premiums									2,768	2,767	2,681
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									226	247	225
Net investment income									5,799	5,621	5,542
Other revenues									286	278	259
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									9,079	8,913	8,707
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									5,106	5,180	5,039
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									1,140	1,233	1,358
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(31)	(27)	(29)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									19	23	22
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									9	9	8
Other expenses									513	504	460
Total expenses									6,756	6,922	6,858
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									812	696	646
Operating earnings									1,511	1,295	1,203
Operating Segments [Member] | Latin America
Revenues
Premiums									2,967	2,824	2,578
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									1,239	991	785
Net investment income									1,347	1,246	1,198
Other revenues									34	23	16
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									5,587	5,084	4,577
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									2,743	2,454	2,231
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									394	417	393
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(385)	(424)	(353)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									321	310	224
Amortization of negative VOBA									(1)	(2)	(5)
Interest expense on debt									0	0	(1)
Other expenses									1,677	1,612	1,375
Total expenses									4,749	4,367	3,864
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									156	143	130
Operating earnings									682	574	583
Operating Segments [Member] | Asia
Revenues
Premiums									7,566	7,801	8,344
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									1,693	1,722	1,491
Net investment income									2,856	2,915	2,895
Other revenues									106	92	26
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									12,221	12,530	12,756
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									5,724	5,755	5,819
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									1,544	1,690	1,784
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(1,914)	(2,143)	(2,288)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									1,397	1,542	1,563
Amortization of negative VOBA									(364)	(427)	(456)
Interest expense on debt									0	0	5
Other expenses									3,971	4,312	4,738
Total expenses									10,358	10,729	11,165
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									575	557	554
Operating earnings									1,288	1,244	1,037
Operating Segments [Member] | EMEA
Revenues
Premiums									2,309	2,297	2,370
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									466	386	333
Net investment income									508	498	535
Other revenues									60	97	121
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									3,343	3,278	3,359
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									1,053	1,039	1,196
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									148	147	126
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(680)	(714)	(723)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									613	683	626
Amortization of negative VOBA									(31)	(95)	(94)
Interest expense on debt									0	1	1
Other expenses									1,810	1,810	1,810
Total expenses									2,913	2,871	2,942
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									68	78	146
Operating earnings									362	329	271
Operating Segments [Member] | Corporate & Other
Revenues
Premiums									153	116	56
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									127	139	155
Net investment income									177	360	679
Other revenues									68	28	33
Net investment gains (losses)									0	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)									0	0	0
Total revenues									525	643	923
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									104	63	119
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									34	42	39
Goodwill impairment									0	0	0
Capitalization of DAC									(60)	(28)	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									13	1	2
Amortization of negative VOBA									0	0	0
Interest expense on debt									1,167	1,148	1,176
Other expenses									1,018	894	559
Total expenses									2,276	2,120	1,895
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									(1,079)	(932)	(687)
Operating earnings									(672)	(545)	(285)
Significant Reconciling Items [Member]
Revenues
Premiums									45	91	620
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees									405	366	344
Net investment income									669	1,838	1,697
Other revenues									(3)	(34)	150
Net investment gains (losses)									(197)	161	(352)
Net derivative gains (losses)									1,317	(3,239)	(1,919)
Total revenues									2,236	(817)	540
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends									1,000	1,620	2,251
Interest credited to policyholder account balances									1,282	2,164	1,487
Goodwill impairment									0	0	1,868
Capitalization of DAC									(1)	0	(5)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA									105	(533)	22
Amortization of negative VOBA									(46)	(55)	(67)
Interest expense on debt									38	123	166
Other expenses									114	539	1,449
Total expenses									2,492	3,858	7,171
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)									$ 87	$ (1,683)	$ (2,174)