The survival period is the length of time the policyholder must survive after s/he has been diagnosed with a critical illness.

The duration or length of the survival period varies from company to company. Usually, the survival period varies from 14 to 30 days.

The insurance company pays the benefit pay-out only after completion of the survival period.

However, at the event of the unfortunate demise of the policyholder during the survival period, no benefits will be paid because critical illness benefits are meant to be used as a living benefit by the policyholder to recover the losses from the illness and not as a death benefit.