December 31, 2020 | 10-K 48 Table of Contents CITIZENS, INC. Life Insurance premium breakout is detailed below. 92% of our Life Insurance premium revenue in each of the past three years was generated by renewal premiums. The Company has taken actions over the past few years to pursue long-term growth and stability, including reducing discretionary dividends on existing international policies in response to the sustained low interest environment and making changes to our distribution, which has negatively impacted sales levels. These changes also included the discontinuance of new business in Brazil in April 2018, following the review of our international business model and regulatory risks. Brazil had been one of our top premium-producing countries in our international life insurance business for the prior several years. Finally, Venezuela, which has historically been one of our top premium-producing countries, has experienced prolonged economic and political turmoil, which has negatively impacted our sales in the country, decreasing approximately 10% in each of 2020 and 2019. As discussed in  Part I. Item 1, Business  - Strategic Initiatives, we are beginning to implement on our growth strategies in the Life Insurance segment, by expanding our product offerings to the U.S. market. Endowment sales represent a significant portion of our new business sales internationally and totaled approximately $8.6 million and $9.3 million, representing approximately 82.7% and 79.5% of total first year premiums in 2020 and 2019, respectively. Most of our life insurance policies contain a policy loan provision, which allows the policyholder to use the accumulated cash value of a policy to pay premiums. These accumulated cash values can also be taken as a cash loan from the policy at the request of the policyholder and are secured by the policy values. The policy loan asset balance increased 2.0% from 2019 to 2020 and remains at the same approximate ratio to life reserves as noted in prior years. International Premiums.  The following table sets forth, for our top five producing countries, our direct premiums from our international life insurance business for the periods indicated. Years ended December 31, (In thousands) 2020 2019 2018 Premiums: First year $ 10,397 11,692  11,451  Renewal 118,805 125,974  129,695  Total premium $ 129,202 137,666  141,146 