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March 17, 2016
Dear Fellow Shareholder:
I hope you will attend the 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders that will be held on Monday, May 2, 2016, at
10:00 a.m. EDT at the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia. I’ll be reporting on our business performance
and strategy for the future.
Whether or not you are able to attend the Annual Meeting, I encourage you to review the letter from our Lead Non-
Management Director, proxy statement, proxy, 2015 Year in Review, and Annual Report on Form 10-K to learn
more about your Company and our achievements in 2015 — and then vote your shares over the internet or by
telephone in accordance with the instructions. Or, you may opt to complete, sign, date and return your proxy as
soon as possible so that your shares will be represented at the Annual Meeting. Either way, we want your shares
represented and voted. Now, I’d like to take a moment to share with you how we have arrived at this point and
where we are going.
In 1955, John Amos, Aflac’s principal founder, joined by his brothers, Paul and Bill, set out to establish a company
focused on insurance products that would help ease the financial burden of getting sick or injured. Their vision and
dedication laid the groundwork for an incredibly rewarding six decades in which we’ve grown our business – and in
doing so, we’ve touched millions of lives. The privilege of enriching the lives of policyholders, sales associates,
employees and our shareholders remains our greatest priority and incorporates a passion that we call The Aflac
Way.
In 2015, we celebrated Aflac’s 60
th
anniversary and marked another year during which Aflac extended its lengthy
record of success, while pursuing more opportunities. We made significant strides in advancing our vision of
offering high-quality voluntary products, solutions and service through diverse distribution outlets, building upon
our market-leading position to drive long-term, sustainable shareholder value
. Operating earnings
1
per diluted
share, excluding the impact of the yen, is one of the principal financial measures used to evaluate management’s
performance, and we believe it continues to be a key driver of shareholder value. In 2015, operating earnings per
diluted share grew 7.5%, which marked the 26
th
consecutive year in which the Company has met or exceeded our
operating earnings per diluted share objective.
Aflac Japan
In Japan, where we insure one in four households, 2015 was a year of strengthening relationships with our sales
channels and enhancing our product line to ensure we’re continuing to meet the needs of consumers. We saw
phenomenal success across all channels in sales of our third sector products, particularly with the product we
pioneered – cancer insurance. These results helped generate a year in which we achieved the highest annual
growth rate for third sector products in the past 10 years, helping us to maintain our status as the leading provider
of both medical and cancer insurance in Japan.
Aflac U.S.
In the United States, Aflac again earned the distinction of being the number one provider of voluntary insurance at
the worksite.
2
2015 was a year in which Aflac U.S. generated solid results, and we’ve been encouraged that the
1
We believe that an analysis of operating earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, is vitally important to an understanding of the Company’s
underlying profitability drivers. We define operating earnings as the profits derived from operations, inclusive of interest cash flows associated with
notes payable, before realized investment gains and losses from securities transactions, impairments, and derivative and hedging activities, as well as
other and nonrecurring items.
2
Source: Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. U.S. Worksite/Voluntary Sales Report. Carrier Results for 2014. Avon, CT: April 2015