This publication begins a series that will monitor and report on social safety nets in developing countries. This first report in the series provides key social safety nets statistics and explains trends using information from 146 countries, including detailed household survey data from 69 countries in the World Bank’s Atlas of Social Protection: Indicators of Resilience and Equity (ASPIRE) database. This report reviews important policy and practical developments in social safety net programs and highlights emerging innovations. While the primary focus is on developing and emerging countries, it also includes some references to high-income settings.
Social safety nets are non-contributory transfers designed to provide regular and predictable support to targeted poor and vulnerable people. These are also referred to as “social assistance” or “social transfers.” The report considered five types of social safety net programs, including conditional cash transfers, unconditional cash transfers, conditional in-kind transfers, unconditional in-kind transfers, and public works.
Key findings:
The global scale of social safety nets can potentially cover almost all of the world’s extreme poor. But the glass is only 1/3 full—most of the extreme poor are not covered by social safety nets. Only 345 million are covered by social safety nets, according to the most recent World Bank estimates. About 870 million people in extreme poverty remain uncovered. There are two primary reasons or this. First, there are still many countries (both low-income and middle-income) that do not have scaled-up social safety net programs. Second, many social safety nets may not specifically target the income-poor, but instead have objectives such as improving nutrition, protecting orphans, or providing old age security. Further:
- One-third of social safety net beneficiaries live in countries where only 12 percent of the extreme poor live.
- The poorest countries are worse-off in terms of covering the extreme poor. To cover all the extremely poor, social safety nets need to expand and include an additional 300 million extremely poor people, hence at least doubling in size for these countries.
- Yet there has been an exponential growth in social safety nets, especially cash-based programs.
- Now every country has at least one social safety net program in place.
- The five largest programs in the world account for almost half of global coverage.
- Many countries spend more on energy subsidies than on social safety nets.
- External financing represents the main sources of social safety net funding in some lower income countries.
- Countries are moving from ad-hoc social safety net interventions to more integrated and efficient social protection systems.
- Administrative innovations like unified registries are reducing program fragmentation.
Robust evidence continues to mount on the impacts of social safety nets, although more research is needed. Over the past three years, a total of 53 new impact evaluations on social safety nets have been completed, many of which in Africa. These are cementing the robust evidence base of social safety nets on a vast range of dimensions, such as poverty, inequality, food security and nutrition, human capital, local economic multipliers, investments in productive activities, risk resilience, social cohesion, and others. Yet more research might be needed on the performance of alternative design and implementation options, on linking social safety nets to the ‘graduation’ agenda, and on adapting social safety nets to different contexts, particularly urban areas and fragile states.