Segment Information (Earnings) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012
Revenues
Premiums	$ 9,151	$ 9,129
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	2,291	2,078
Net investment income	6,077	6,200
Other revenues	480	597
Net investment gains (losses)	314	(110)
Net derivative gains (losses)	(630)	(1,978)
Total revenues	17,683	15,916
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	9,708	9,447
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	2,590	2,557
Capitalization of DAC	(1,256)	(1,364)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	824	714
Amortization of negative VOBA	(146)	(155)
Interest expense on debt	321	358
Other expenses	4,395	4,768
Total expenses	16,436	16,325
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	252	(275)
Income (loss) from continuing operations, net of income tax	995	(134)
Operating Segments [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	9,151	9,107
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	2,211	2,009
Net investment income	5,132	5,077
Other revenues	481	452
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	16,975	16,645
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	9,106	8,939
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	1,554	1,539
Capitalization of DAC	(1,256)	(1,362)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	1,016	1,018
Amortization of negative VOBA	(131)	(137)
Interest expense on debt	288	315
Other expenses	4,087	4,243
Total expenses	14,664	14,555
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	646	596
Operating earnings	1,665	1,494
Operating Segments [Member] | Americas [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	6,560	6,402
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	1,640	1,527
Net investment income	4,126	4,047
Other revenues	428	386
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	12,754	12,362
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	7,445	7,225
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	1,065	1,077
Capitalization of DAC	(529)	(598)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	450	499
Amortization of negative VOBA	(1)	(2)
Interest expense on debt	1	3
Other expenses	2,381	2,426
Total expenses	10,812	10,630
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	644	574
Operating earnings	1,298	1,158
Operating Segments [Member] | Latin America [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	675	686
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	225	196
Net investment income	277	299
Other revenues	4	5
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	1,181	1,186
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	554	592
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	104	100
Capitalization of DAC	(105)	(84)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	74	55
Amortization of negative VOBA	(1)	(2)
Interest expense on debt	(1)	1
Other expenses	372	326
Total expenses	997	988
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	41	50
Operating earnings	143	148
Operating Segments [Member] | Asia [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	1,998	2,039
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	444	362
Net investment income	732	681
Other revenues	13	16
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	3,187	3,098
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	1,415	1,360
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	442	429
Capitalization of DAC	(546)	(587)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	401	373
Amortization of negative VOBA	(113)	(131)
Interest expense on debt	0	1
Other expenses	1,094	1,191
Total expenses	2,693	2,636
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	161	161
Operating earnings	333	301
Operating Segments [Member] | Europe, the Middle East and Africa [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	567	652
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	91	80
Net investment income	128	157
Other revenues	27	36
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	813	925
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	237	343
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	35	33
Capitalization of DAC	(177)	(177)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	165	146
Amortization of negative VOBA	(17)	(4)
Interest expense on debt	1	0
Other expenses	448	471
Total expenses	692	812
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	34	41
Operating earnings	87	72
Operating Segments [Member] | Retail [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	1,547	1,624
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	1,167	1,114
Net investment income	1,961	1,911
Other revenues	243	209
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	4,918	4,858
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	2,153	2,228
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	579	596
Capitalization of DAC	(374)	(476)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	331	404
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	0	0
Other expenses	1,278	1,397
Total expenses	3,967	4,149
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	325	240
Operating earnings	626	469
Operating Segments [Member] | Group, Voluntary & Worksite Benefits [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	3,874	3,585
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	180	166
Net investment income	453	436
Other revenues	108	108
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	4,615	4,295
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	3,640	3,313
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	39	42
Capitalization of DAC	(33)	(31)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	34	30
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	0	0
Other expenses	588	575
Total expenses	4,268	3,929
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	117	123
Operating earnings	230	243
Operating Segments [Member] | Corporate Benefit Funding [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	464	507
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	68	51
Net investment income	1,435	1,401
Other revenues	73	64
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	2,040	2,023
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	1,098	1,092
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	343	339
Capitalization of DAC	(17)	(7)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	11	10
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	2	2
Other expenses	143	128
Total expenses	1,580	1,564
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	161	161
Operating earnings	299	298
Operating Segments [Member] | Corporate & Other [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	26	14
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	36	40
Net investment income	146	192
Other revenues	13	14
Net investment gains (losses)	0	0
Net derivative gains (losses)	0	0
Total revenues	221	260
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	9	11
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	12	0
Capitalization of DAC	(4)	0
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	0	0
Amortization of negative VOBA	0	0
Interest expense on debt	286	311
Other expenses	164	155
Total expenses	467	477
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	(193)	(180)
Operating earnings	(53)	(37)
Significant Reconciling Items [Member]
Revenues
Premiums	0	22
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	80	69
Net investment income	945	1,123
Other revenues	(1)	145
Net investment gains (losses)	314	(110)
Net derivative gains (losses)	(630)	(1,978)
Total revenues	708	(729)
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	602	508
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	1,036	1,018
Capitalization of DAC	0	(2)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	(192)	(304)
Amortization of negative VOBA	(15)	(18)
Interest expense on debt	33	43
Other expenses	308	525
Total expenses	1,772	1,770
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	$ (394)	$ (871)