SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Schedule of Common Stock Outstanding Roll Forward

The following table is a reconciliation of the number of shares of the Company's common stock for the years ended December 31.

(In thousands of shares)	2013	2012	2011
Common stock - issued:
Balance, beginning of period	665,239	663,639	662,660
Exercise of stock options and issuance of restricted shares	1,807	1,600	979
Balance, end of period	667,046	665,239	663,639
Treasury stock:
Balance, beginning of period	197,453	197,329	192,999
Purchases of treasury stock:
Open market	13,212	1,948	6,000
Other	222	360	182
Dispositions of treasury stock:
Shares issued to AFL Stock Plan	(1,365)	(1,670)	(1,690)
Exercise of stock options	(1,734)	(387)	(88)
Other	(155)	(127)	(74)
Balance, end of period	207,633	197,453	197,329
Shares outstanding, end of period	459,413	467,786	466,310

Schedule of Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share

The following table presents the approximate number of share-based awards to purchase shares, on a weighted-average basis, that were considered to be anti-dilutive and were excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per share at December 31:

(In thousands)	2013		2012		2011
Anti-dilutive share-based awards		2,198		5,880		6,145

Schedule of Weighted Average Number of Shares

The weighted-average shares used in calculating earnings per share for the years ended December 31 were as follows:

(In thousands of shares)	2013	2012	2011
Weighted-average outstanding shares used for calculating basic EPS	464,502	466,868	466,519
Dilutive effect of share-based awards	2,906	2,419	2,851
Weighted-average outstanding shares used for calculating diluted EPS	467,408	469,287	469,370