June 2025
26Jun

India Gears Up To Launch Landmark Social Security Scheme For Gig Workers

In a major step toward formalising protection for India’s growing gig economy, the government is preparing to roll out a dedicated social security scheme for gig and platform workers under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)—the world’s largest publicly funded health insurance program. The announcement, made as part of the Union Budget 2025, marks a watershed moment for the country’s informal workforce, which has long remained outside the ambit of structured welfare systems. PM-JAY, also known as Ayushman Bharat, was...

June 26, 2025
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May 2025
30May

Eyes on delivery – improving implementation for effective social protection for all

By Abhijit V. Banerjee Effective implementation is the missing link in the drive toward inclusive, reliable social protection. In recent decades, social protection systems have expanded rapidly across the developing world. Today, more than 2.5 billion people benefit from programmes like cash transfers, food subsidies, and social pensions. Yet despite this progress, the goal of social protection for all remains out of reach. Too many eligible people still slip through the cracks—excluded by complex procedures, poor targeting, or weak delivery...

May 30, 2025
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23May

Reforming pensions in Africa: Addressing coverage, payoutdisparities, and dementia outcomes for sustainable aging

By yprian M. Mostert, Catherine Ajalo & David Andai We appreciate the thoughtful feedback from scholars who suggest thatwe should have used life expectancy at age 45 or 25 to support ourargument for pension reforms in Africa. While life expectancy at thesespecific ages provides an average estimate of the remaining lifespan, itdoes not capture the nuances of individual survival probabilities, mak-ing it less reliable for certain analyses. This remains a debated topic inthe literature.1,2 Life expectancy at birth, on the...

May 23, 2025
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21May

Ghana. SSNIT bets on mobile money to drive accessibility

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust is betting on the widely used mobile money to improve pension accessibility and convenience, as it deepens its digital transformation strategy to reach a broader base of contributors. With mobile money transaction volumes and values surging to record highs in 2024, SSNIT is integrating mobile money platforms into its service delivery model. The aim is to make pension-related services more accessible to informal sector workers and the broader population who already use mobile...

May 21, 2025
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09May

The DC Future Book 2024: in association with Columbia Threadneedle Investments

By Pensions Policy Institute This report is the tenth edition of the Pensions Policy Institute’s (PPI) The DC Future Book: in association with Columbia Threadneedle Investments, setting out available data on the Defined Contribution (DC) landscape alongside commentary, analysis and projections of future trends. Demographic and policy changes mean that, compared to previous generations of pensioners, current and future retirees will. These changes increase the risk borne by pension savers and the complexity of decisions they must make at, and during,...

May 9, 2025
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09May

The Purple Book 2024. DB pensions universe risk profile

By Pension Protection Fund The Purple Book, also known as the Pensions Universe Risk Profile, highlights trends in DB scheme funding, demographics and asset allocation. It provides us with an in-depth understanding of the risks we face from the universe of schemes we protect. The 19th edition of the Purple Book shows the strong net funding position of the universe of DB pension schemes has remained largely stable over the past year. For this year’s Purple Book, we’ve used an enhanced roll-forward...

May 9, 2025
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09May

Participation in Pension Programs in Low and Middle Income Countries

By John Giles, Clement Joubert & Tomoaki Tanaka Low- and middle-income countries are aging rapidly but stagnation of growth in participation in pension programs, due to widespread informal employment, presents a major fiscal challenge. Some claim that improving the design of pension program rules can encourage more pension contributions, while others push for universal non-contributory pensions. This paper reviews the recent academic literature on the determinants of active participation in pension systems in high-informality settings. An emerging body of evidence...

May 9, 2025
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08May

Nigeria. PenCom DG laments negative growth in pension industry

The Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, has lamented the negative growth recorded in the pension industry since 2021. Oloworaran expressed this concern on Thursday at the 2025 Pension Industry Leadership Retreat organised under the theme, ‘Sustainable Retirement – Strategic Blueprint for Economic Development and Inclusion.’ The Pension Reform Act 2004 empowers PenCom to regulate, supervise and ensure the effective administration of pension matters in Nigeria. The functions of the Commission include: Regulation and supervision of the Contributory Pension...

May 8, 2025
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April 2025
09Apr

State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge

By The World Bank   Today, more people have access to social protection now than at any point in history. Over the last decade, 4.7 billion people across low- and middle-income countries gained access to social protection. However, critical gaps remain. Two billion people in those countries remain uncovered or inadequately covered by social protection. The State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge documents advances and challenges to strengthening social protection and labor systems across low- and middle-income countries and...

April 9, 2025
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March 2025
26Mar

“The Cuban lives to eat”: This is what one could buy with the minimum pension of a retired Cuban

A young Cuban identified on TikTok as @brianna4258, residing in the province of Matanzas, posted a viral video documenting what can currently be purchased in Cuba with the minimum pension of a retiree: 1,500 Cuban pesos, equivalent to about 4 dollars at the informal exchange rate. “This is the basic salary of a retiree in Cuba,” he says at the beginning of the video while showing the cash. He then walks through the streets and kiosks of his area to highlight the scarcity and...

March 26, 2025
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