The architecture of social protection rests on three foundational pillars: social assistance, social insurance, and labor market programs. These components are designed not only to protect individuals from crises but also to facilitate upward mobility by creating pathways out of poverty, enabling resilience during transitions, and helping seize employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Yet, despite considerable progress globally, a staggering 2 billion individuals in low- and middle-income countries remain either excluded from or insufficiently covered by social protection systems. This exclusion is more than a statistic—it is a systemic challenge that undermines economic resilience, fuels inequality, and weakens the potential of human capital.
Drawing insights from the World Bank’s Atlas of Social Protection Indicators of Resilience and Equity (ASPIRE) and the forthcoming State of Social Protection Report 2025, the scale and nature of the problem come into sharp focus. The report takes a data-driven look at the evolution of social protection systems across countries—tracking public expenditure, coverage levels, and the adequacy of support provided to beneficiaries. It highlights both commendable advances and persistent gaps that hinder equitable progress.
To address the 2-billion-person challenge, the report outlines four strategic policy actions that can catalyze a more inclusive and effective social protection agenda:
1. Extending Coverage: Bringing excluded groups—such as informal workers, rural populations, women, and youth—into the fold of social protection mechanisms is critical. This means identifying unregistered populations, leveraging digital ID systems, and building trust in state institutions.
2. Strengthening Adequacy: Coverage without sufficiency is inadequate. Transfers and services must meet minimum thresholds to meaningfully improve well-being, support nutrition, health, and education, and mitigate economic shocks.
3. Building Shock-Responsive Systems: As climate change, pandemics, and geopolitical instability increase the frequency and intensity of shocks, social protection must evolve to become more adaptive. This includes pre-positioning funds, using early warning systems, and deploying digital technologies to reach affected populations swiftly.
4. Optimizing Financing: Sustainable social protection requires reliable funding. This entails mobilizing domestic resources, enhancing public financial management, and, where appropriate, leveraging international support and partnerships.
Of course, these actions cannot follow a one-size-fits-all template. Countries differ widely in their institutional capacities, fiscal space, and political environments. Therefore, reforms must be context-sensitive, anchored in evidence, and guided by an inclusive approach that listens to the needs and voices of all stakeholders—especially those historically left out.
What’s clear is that investments in social protection yield returns far beyond the economic—contributing to social cohesion, human dignity, and stability. In a world increasingly defined by uncertainty, building resilient social protection systems is not just a policy choice; it is a necessity.
As the global community steps into a new phase of development marked by intersecting crises and aspirations for equitable growth, closing the 2-billion-person gap in social protection stands as one of the most urgent and defining challenges of our time. The tools exist, the data is clear, and the moral imperative is undeniable. It is time to act—not just to protect, but to empower.
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