Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees (Details 3)				6 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2011 Standby letters of credit USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 AIG Star and AIG Edison Indemnification related to breaches of general representations and warranties USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 AIG Star and AIG Edison Indemnification related to breaches of general representations and warranties JPY (¥)	Jun. 30, 2011 MetLife Inc. (MetLife) Indemnification related to breaches of general representations and warranties USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 Other indemnification USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 MetLife Inc. (MetLife) Tax indemnification USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 MetLife Inc. (MetLife) Tax indemnification USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2013 MetLife Inc. (MetLife) USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 MetLife Inc. (MetLife) USD ($)
Guarantees
Payments related to guarantee						$ 300,000,000
Payments made or placed in escrow accounts at end of period									2,700,000,000
Payments made or placed in escrow accounts initial amount									3,000,000,000
Amount required to be held in escrow								0
Escrow period (in months)									30M
Minimum amount exposed under guarantee		51,000,000	4,100,000,000	2,250,000,000			200,000,000
Amount oustanding under standby letters of credit at end of period	779,000,000
Aggregate deductible amount under guarantee				125,000,000	0		50,000,000
Period of guarantee (in months)				21
Maximum amount exposed under guarantee		$ 1,300,000,000	¥ 102,000,000,000