Social protection for older persons: Policy trends and statistics 2017–19
This policy paper: (i) provides a global overview of the organization of pension systems and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); (ii) monitors SDG indicator 1.3.1 for older persons, analyses trends and recent policies in 192 countries, including the extension of legal and effective coverage in a large number of low- and middle-income countries, through a mix of contributory and non-contributory schemes; (iii) looks at persisting inequalities in access to income security in old-age; (iv) presents lessons from three decades of pension privatization and the trend to returning to public systems; (v) calls for countries to double their efforts to extend system coverage, including the extension of social protection floors, while at the same time improving the adequacy of benefits.
Keywords: social security and public pensions, retirement policies, public policy