BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct 7 (IPS) – Social protection systems are essential for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
However, social protection is inadequate in Asia and the Pacific, and the region is at risk from megatrends: climate change, demographic shifts and digitalization. Tens of millions of people have been pushed into extreme poverty since COVID-19, undoing past gains, and many more millions live in precarious conditions just above the poverty line.
Protecting our future today: social protection in Asia and the Pacifica report from the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, outlines the challenges in the region and offers an approach to solving them through foresight and urgent action.
Climate change is being felt across our region and is causing loss of life and livelihoods. Although exposure and vulnerability vary between and within countries and groups, for example, female-headed rural households in some countries are much more exposed to cyclones and storms.
Social protection is a powerful policy instrument that provides support for healthcare, income and food security, and assistance to displaced people. It can also buffer the impact of climate policy, helping to ensure a just transition.
Another megatrend is the aging of the population. Asia and the Pacific are the fastest aging region in the world. By 2050, a quarter of the population will be over 60 years old and there could be approximately one dependent per worker. Pension systems, health care and long-term care will need to be strengthened without overburdening public budgets. The goal is a smooth transition to an aging society.
Social protection is becoming digital, making schemes more accessible and efficient. However, only 61.2 percent of people in Asia and the Pacific use the internet and digital literacy rates can be as low as 4 percent. New types of work, such as work on internet platforms, lack legal clarity to guarantee workers’ access to social protection.
These gaps need to be addressed to ensure that the benefits of digitalized services reach everyone and leave no one behind. Furthermore, with only 0.2 percent of GDP invested annually in active labor market policies in the region, a large part of the workforce lacks the vocational training and support to transition or acquire new jobs, including digital jobs.
Overall, Asia and the Pacific is making slow but steady progress in implementing social protection systems for all by 2030 (SDG target 1.3). Available country data show that between 2016 and 2022, coverage (excluding healthcare) increased across the life cycle, for children, persons with disabilities, people of working age and older people, in line with the concept of a “floor” for social protection. . Too many people remain unprotected: 45 percent of people in Asia and the Pacific have no coverage at all. Systems are often fragmented and under-resourced. Poverty-targeted programs miss people and premium systems remain scarce. Universal, life cycle and multi-pillar systems are needed to ensure minimum income security for all people and build people’s resilience.
Countries in our region spend on average only 8.2 percent of GDP on social protection, compared to the global average of 12.9 percent. A third of countries spend less than 2 percent. This low level of spending will not protect people from poverty and inequality, given the megatrends. By 2040, as many as 266 million more people could fall into poverty.
Estimates from the ESCAP Social Protection Online Tool (SPOT) Simulator show that universal non-contributory benefits for major life-cycle contingencies – childhood, disability, maternity and old age – could be increased in line with the global average to the equivalent of 3.3 percent of GDP in 2030.
The costs of ensuring that all children under 18, persons with disabilities, mothers of newborns and persons over 65 have minimum income security are within reach.
Future-proofing starts with establishing a universal social protection floor, anchored in legislative and policy frameworks. It must develop into a multi-pillar system that provides full coverage and adequate benefit levels.
Countries must link social protection to care and support services, education, health care, nutrition, employment and climate policy. They must also build capacity to identify, predict and address climate risks to address emerging vulnerabilities, including through a better understanding of inequality.
Additional actions could include expanding contributory and non-contributory pensions to meet the demographic transitions underway, and using new technologies to improve systems, while always respecting data rights and privacy of the beneficiaries are respected.
In October 2024, the eighth session of the ESCAP Social Development Committee in Bangkok, will look for policy approaches to counter the megatrends. Done well, social protection can increase people’s resilience, facilitate adaptation and mitigate the negative consequences of change.
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
