The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its  World Social Protection Report 2017-2019 has said  the poorest countries can afford to extend social protection to all citizens.

According to the ILO report, the universal coverage in old-age pensions has been achieved by more than 20 countries, including Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cabo Verde, China, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Namibia, South Africa, Timor Leste, Trinidad and Tobago and Zanzibar (Tanzania).

It stated that countries normally achieve universal coverage by a combination of contributory social insurance and tax-based social assistance or social protection floors.

“Finding out just how much social protection floors cost is easy, thanks to the ILO’s new calculator. The ILO Social Protection Floors Calculator  makes it possible to estimate the costs of child and orphan allowances, maternity benefits, public works programmes for those without jobs, disability and old-age pensions,” the report said.

The report also highlighted that the cost of universal benefits for 364 million children, 81 million pregnant women, 103 million persons with severe disabilities and 153 million older persons ranges from 0.3 per cent of GDP for Mongolia to 9.8 per cent of GDP for Sierra Leone – with an average cost of 4.2 per cent of GDP in 57 lower income countries.

“From a global perspective, these life-changing benefits for 700 million people – nearly 10 per cent of the world’s population – would require only 0.23 per cent of global GDP. That’s just 1.1 per cent of what G20 countries spent to bail out the financial sector in 2009. It is a question of priorities,” said Isabel Ortiz, director of the ILO’s Social Protection Department.,