Segment Information (Earnings) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016
Revenues
Premiums	$ 9,315	$ 9,693
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	2,302	2,344
Net investment income	5,196	4,559
Other revenues	374	487
Net investment gains (losses)	8	15
Net derivative gains (losses)	(926)	1,335
Total revenues	16,269	18,433
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	10,176	9,993
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	1,712	1,326
Capitalization of DAC	(796)	(981)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	533	995
Amortization of negative VOBA	(43)	(99)
Interest expense on debt	296	312
Other expenses	3,574	3,965
Total expenses	15,452	15,511
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	(12)	719
Net income (loss)	829	2,203
Operating Segments
Revenues
Premiums	9,315	9,267
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	2,201	2,151
Net investment income	4,995	4,706
Other revenues	368	487
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	16,879	16,611
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	9,828	9,593
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	1,310	1,301
Capitalization of DAC	(796)	(876)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	845	881
Amortization of negative VOBA	(40)	(67)
Interest expense on debt	296	312
Other expenses	3,468	3,710
Total expenses	14,911	14,854
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	416	422
Operating earnings	1,552	1,335
Operating Segments | U.S.
Revenues
Premiums	5,185	5,020
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	265	250
Net investment income	1,612	1,460
Other revenues	204	204
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	7,266	6,934
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	5,235	5,046
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	351	322
Capitalization of DAC	(100)	(111)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	114	118
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	2	2
Other expenses	909	942
Total expenses	6,511	6,319
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	252	209
Operating earnings	503	406
Operating Segments | Asia
Revenues
Premiums	1,708	1,658
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	366	350
Net investment income	702	618
Other revenues	10	17
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	2,786	2,643
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	1,315	1,236
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	321	319
Capitalization of DAC	(420)	(385)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	291	286
Amortization of negative VOBA	(37)	(64)
Interest expense on debt	0	0
Other expenses	875	851
Total expenses	2,345	2,243
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	146	95
Operating earnings	295	305
Operating Segments | Latin America
Revenues
Premiums	647	601
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	260	268
Net investment income	303	255
Other revenues	9	7
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	1,219	1,131
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	633	550
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	82	80
Capitalization of DAC	(82)	(73)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	78	63
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	1	0
Other expenses	326	310
Total expenses	1,038	930
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	38	50
Operating earnings	143	151
Operating Segments | EMEA
Revenues
Premiums	502	500
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	95	95
Net investment income	74	80
Other revenues	17	20
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	688	695
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	269	261
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	24	29
Capitalization of DAC	(92)	(101)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	87	102
Amortization of negative VOBA	(3)	(3)
Interest expense on debt	0	0
Other expenses	316	333
Total expenses	601	621
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	12	11
Operating earnings	75	63
Operating Segments | MetLife Holdings
Revenues
Premiums	1,059	1,097
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	362	355
Net investment income	1,441	1,475
Other revenues	96	204
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	2,958	3,131
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	1,736	1,823
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	257	258
Capitalization of DAC	(34)	(100)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	74	148
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	15	14
Other expenses	340	596
Total expenses	2,388	2,739
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	185	125
Operating earnings	385	267
Operating Segments | Brighthouse Financial
Revenues
Premiums	177	393
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	884	858
Net investment income	858	813
Other revenues	74	86
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	1,993	2,150
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	631	703
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	275	289
Capitalization of DAC	(67)	(102)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	200	162
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	32	32
Other expenses	612	624
Total expenses	1,683	1,708
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	66	115
Operating earnings	244	327
Operating Segments | Corporate & Other
Revenues
Premiums	37	(2)
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	(31)	(25)
Net investment income	5	5
Other revenues	(42)	(51)
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	(31)	(73)
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	9	(26)
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	0	4
Capitalization of DAC	(1)	(4)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	1	2
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	246	264
Other expenses	90	54
Total expenses	345	294
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	(283)	(183)
Operating earnings	(93)	(184)
Significant Reconciling Items
Revenues
Premiums	0	426
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	101	193
Net investment income	201	(147)
Other revenues	6	0
Net investment gains (losses)	8	15
Net derivative gains (losses)	(926)	1,335
Total revenues	(610)	1,822
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	348	400
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	402	25
Capitalization of DAC	0	(105)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	(312)	114
Amortization of negative VOBA	(3)	(32)
Interest expense on debt	0	0
Other expenses	106	255
Total expenses	541	657
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	$ (428)	$ 297