Steady progress but coverage and adequacy low

A life-cycle approach to social protection aims for comprehensive protection.

Slow but steady progress

Asia and the Pacific is making slow but steady progress in efforts to implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all by 2030 and achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable (SDG target 1.3).

Comparing the level of coverage between 2016 and 2023 in Asia-Pacific countries with data available, the region has made progress in extending coverage in main contingencies (excluding health) across the life cycle, covering children, persons with disabilities, people of working age and those in old age, in line with the concept of the social protection floor.

Number of Asia-Pacific countries progressing towards universal social protection coverage, 2016-2022

Source: ESCAP elaborations based on ILO World Social Protection Database 2024 (forthcoming).

Proportion of the population covered by at least one social protection benefit (excluding health care) by contingency, latest available year

Source: ILO World Social Protection Database 2024 (forthcoming).

Coverage and adequacy levels remain low

Despite positive developments across life-cycle contingencies, coverage and adequacy levels remain low. With just one in four children having access to a social protection scheme, children have among the lowest benefit coverage rates in the region. Effective coverage of mothers of newborns has regressed in close to a third of Asia-Pacific countries with data.

Barriers persist to extend coverage and ensure adequacy of benefits for persons in vulnerable situations, including children, women, persons with disabilities, informal workers, migrant workers and internally displaced persons.

A life-cycle approach to social protection provides comprehensive protection

A system of life-cycle schemes—encompassing universal child, parental, unemployment and disability benefits, work injury compensation and old age pensions—would ensure comprehensive protection for women, men, girls and boys throughout their lives. This life-cycle approach to social protection integrates each scheme as a vital component of a universal system designed to address all needs, risks and contingencies across the lifespan.