The State of Social Safety Nets 2018
Social safety nets are key to helping families escape poverty. Learn how current programs protect vulnerable households and build shared prosperity.
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This 2018 edition of The State of Social Safety Nets monitors the state of social safety nets (SSN) around the world by presenting key global SSN statistics on spending coverage, benefit level and poverty/inequality impact. The book documents the main safety net programs that exist around the world and their use to alleviate poverty and build shared prosperity.
This series of periodic reports is part of broader efforts to monitor implementation progress of the World Bank 2012-2022 Social Protection and Labor Strategy against the strategic goals of increasing coverage — especially among the poor — and enhancing the poverty impact of the programs.
Social Safety Nets Around the World
Most countries have a diverse set of SSN/social assistance (SA) instruments. Of 142 countries in the World Bank Atlas of Social Protection Indicators of Resilience and Equity (ASPIRE) administrative database, 70% have unconditional cash transfers and 43% have conditional cash transfers. More than 80% of countries provide school feeding programs. Also, 67% of countries have public works, and 56% have various fee waivers. The number of countries with old-age social pensions has also grown rapidly in the past two decades.
Developing and transitioning countries spend an average of 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on safety net programs. A growing commitment to SSN/SA is also evident; many countries tend to spend more on these programs over time. From the analysis of the subset of countries with comparable data over time, chapter 2 shows that in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, average spending on SSN/SA programs as a percentage of GDP increased from 0.4% of GDP in 2000 to 1.26% of GDP in 2015. This happened while regional GDP grew, which means that SSN spending has increased in relative and absolute terms. Many countries in other regions, including Europe and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, have also substantially increased their spending on flagship SSN programs. Europe and Central Asia currently spend the most, with average spending of 2.2% of GDP.
The Impact of Social Safety Nets
The extent to which safety net transfers have an impact on poverty and inequality depends on factors such as the program’s coverage, transfer level and beneficiary incidence. Policymakers need to pay attention to the interaction of these factors when designing policies to reduce poverty and inequality. High coverage levels paired with high benefit levels lead to more significant outcomes in poverty and inequality reduction.
Data from the reports show that safety nets — which include cash, in-kind transfers, social pensions, public works and school feeding programs targeted to poor and vulnerable households — also reduce inequality and shrink the poverty gap by about 45%, even if the households do not emerge from poverty. These positive effects of safety net transfers hold true for low- and middle-income countries alike.
Analysis also shows that on average, all types of programs tend to favor the poor. Despite the progress that has been made, significant gaps in program coverage persist, especially in poor countries.
Safety Nets Protect Vulnerable Households from Shocks and Crises
An estimated 36% of the very poor escaped extreme poverty because of SSNs, providing clear evidence that SSN programs are making a substantial impact in the global fight against poverty.
In developing and transitioning countries, 2.5 billion people are covered by safety net programs. Of these, 650 million people are from the poorest quintile. Yet, in low-income countries, only one in five of the poorest are covered by safety net programs.
Read more from The World Bank Group.