Social Protection Archives - Pension Policy International

10AprApril 10, 2025

Pensions at a Crossroads: Building Inclusive Retirement Systems for an Aging World

The World Bank’s Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, in collaboration with the ASPIRE team and informed by research from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), delivers a timely and comprehensive report. This document scrutinizes the global state of pension and social insurance systems, offering insight into their adequacy, sustainability, and coverage in a world experiencing rapid population aging. As the share of elderly citizens rises sharply across...

April 10, 2025

News, SliderInformal Sector, Social Protection

09AprApril 9, 2025

State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge

By The World Bank Today, more people have access to social protection now than at any point in history. Over the last decade, 4.7 billion people across low- and middle-income countries gained access to social protection. However, critical gaps remain. Two billion people in those countries remain uncovered or inadequately covered by social protection. The State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge documents advances and challenges to strengthening social protection and labor systems across low- and middle-income countries and...

April 9, 2025

Books, Books, Reports, System CharacterizationCoverage, Investment, Public Policy, Social Pensions, Social Protection

09AprApril 9, 2025

The World Bank publishes “State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge”

Social protection goes well beyond cash transfers; it includes policies and programmes that bridge skill, financial, and information gaps, aiding people in securing better jobs. The three pillars of social protection—social assistance, social insurance, and labour market programmes—support households and workers in handling crises, escaping poverty, facing transitions, and seizing employment opportunities. But despite a substantial expansion over the past decade, 2-billion people remain uncovered or inadequately covered across low- and middle-income countries. Drawing from administrative and household survey data from...

April 9, 2025

News, SliderSocial Protection

20FebFebruary 20, 2025

Global aging: The (almost) invisible crisis shaping our future

Societies are becoming older, smaller, and lonelier, with shrinking labor forces, stagnant productivity, declining growth, and overstretched health care and social protection systems. The economic and social consequences of global aging are enormous and will affect how the world manages other global challenges. Population aging could reduce GDP growth by 0.5–1.0 percentage points a year, for example—an effect on output that is greater than the impact of climate change. The demographic crisis has a high degree of certainty in the short and medium terms....

February 20, 2025

News, SliderAging, Healthcare, Social Protection

08JanJanuary 8, 2025

UK politics needs to take a long-term view on social care

Past attempts to reform social care by both Labour and the Conservatives have failed. The recent commission of an independent review led by Baroness Louise Casey into the state of social care provides a beacon of hope. Nicholas Barr argues that a long-term view on social care is the only plausible solution. Enjoying this post? Then sign up to our newsletter and receive a weekly roundup of all our articles. Social care in England, though a known problem, has remained chronically underfunded for decades, and has...

January 8, 2025

News, SliderAging, Social Protection, UK

29NovNovember 29, 2024

Megatrends and the Future of Social Protection

By Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Ageing populations, changing labour markets, and climate change are affecting economies and societies across OECD countries. What challenges do these “megatrends” pose for social protection systems? What are the implications of these trends for the coverage, the effectiveness, and – critically – the funding of social protection today and tomorrow? With an eye towards informing future reforms, this report presents a broad stocktaking of population ageing, changing patterns of labour supply, new and emerging...

November 29, 2024

Books, Books, Pension design, Reports2024, Aging, Climate crisis, Investment, Public Policy, Social Protection

08NovNovember 8, 2024

Pensions in Aging Asia and the Pacific: Policy Insights and Priorities

By Rafal Chomik, Philip O’Keefe & John Piggott Asia and the Pacific has the most diverse regional pension landscape globally. Yet the region’s pension systems are facing common challenges as they attempt to expand coverage, and ensure adequacy and fairness, while maintaining fiscal sustainability. We review the structures and performance of pension systems across Asia and the Pacific. Most remain characterized by low contributory coverage, social pensions with inadequate benefits and often low (or no) coverage, and informal sector schemes...

November 8, 2024

Aging, Articles2024, Aging, Asia, Social Protection

08NovNovember 8, 2024

A ‘Mandatory’ Pension Scheme? Late-Stage Dropouts from the National Pension System in South Korea

By Jongseok Oh, Seho Son & Kun Lee In this study, we investigate the patterns of individuals dropping out of the National Pension System, a mandatory public pension scheme in South Korea with a generous and redistributive benefit structure. We analyze administrative pension insurance data on individuals eligible for a lump-sum refund of lifetime accrued contributions at the age of 60 due to insufficient contribution records. We employ a set of linear probability models with region-fixed effects and within-between-region effects...

November 8, 2024

Articles, System Characterization2024, Equality, Public Pensions, Social Protection

25OctOctober 25, 2024

Pensions in Aging Asia and the Pacific: Policy Insights and Priorities

By Rafal Chomik, Philip O’Keefe & John Piggott Asia and the Pacific has the most diverse regional pension landscape globally. Yet the region’s pension systems are facing common challenges as they attempt to expand coverage, and ensure adequacy and fairness, while maintaining fiscal sustainability. We review the structures and performance of pension systems across Asia and the Pacific. Most remain characterized by low contributory coverage, social pensions with inadequate benefits and often low (or no) coverage, and informal sector schemes...

October 25, 2024

Articles, System Characterization2024, Asia, Income, Social Pensions, Social Protection

11OctOctober 11, 2024

Social pensions in the Americas: Recent developments

By International Social Security Association Ensuring adequate social security coverage for an ageing population is an important priority for governments and the global membership of the International Social Security Association (ISSA). Social pensions, also known as zero pillar or non-contributory pensions, complement contributory social insurance systems by providing a guaranteed source of income for people not adequately protected by other forms of social security. In doing so, they expand overall social protection and can be a powerful tool for combating...

October 11, 2024

Books, Books, Reports, System Characterization2023, Latin America, Pension Reform, Social Pensions, Social Protection

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