Extension of Social Security Coverage to

 Informal Economy Sector

The roots of current form of social insurance in the I.R. Iran goes back to 1930 which was established under the title of Workers Provident Fund  which became organized in 1975 in the form of Social Security Organization  .

Currently, the SSO as the greatest social insurance body, medical network and pension fund in the region has covered around 40 million persons. 

In fact, this great number of covered population is due to the efforts of extending social security coverage to different groups of informal sector. 

Three major recognized and covered groups are:

•    Construction workers,
•   Carpet-weavers and handcraft artisans,
•   Iranians living abroad.

Covering the above-mentioned inclusive groups of informal economy sector contributed to a wide range of social insurance coverage estimated to be  13 million and 500 thousand persons through the enforcement of  administrative procedures and regulations by the SSO.

There are specific rules and administrative procedure for each group such as the minimum and maximum age, the period of contribution payment, and the age of claiming benefits and services.