oecd.org (Sept 2025) A Review of the Existing Social Benefits in Portugal and Reform Proposals for an Improved System

Government of India (dec 2025) Gig & platform workers are formally recognised under labour law Social security benefits include life & disability cover, health & maternity benefits, pension, accident insurance, and crèche. Aggregators contribute to a Social Security Fund, and facilitation centre to address worker grievances to be setup by Government. Each worker gets a unique Aadhaar-linked ID on e-Shram, making benefits portable across platforms.

Asian Development Bank (Nov 2025) Showcasing innovative community-based long-term care (LTC) models in Indonesia, Mongolia, and Viet Nam, this publication looks at ways integrated and holistic care and support services can underpin aging in place and improve health outcomes.

ilo.org (11.12.2025) Student teams showcase creative ideas to strengthen social assistance systems, bringing fresh perspectives to national policy discussions.

ilo.org (12.12.2025) Developed with the support of the ILO-China Partnership Programme, the app represents a milestone in modernising social protection.

ids.ac.uk (04.12.2025) Millions of citizens in Africa are unable to obtain essential services that they are entitled to as new digital ID systems continue being imposed across the continent, requiring them to provide biometric and personal information, new research reveals.

ilo.org (05.12.2025) As crises become more frequent and complex, robust unemployment protection systems are essential to safeguard income security and support full, productive and freely chosen employment. This new ILO brief provides practical guidance for building rights-based unemployment protection schemes that deliver on these goals. 

socialprotection.org (2025) This scoping review investigates the potential for channelling innovative climate finance into social protection systems with a specific focus on rural populations.

Digital Convergence Initiative (nov 2025) This publication presents the results of a study conducted to identify best practices from public financial management (PFM) standards (PEFA, SDMX, GFSM), healthcare interoperability standards (HL7 FHIR, IHE), and ISO standards to inform the development of DCI standards. The study highlights several key factors behind successful interoperability standards: Engaging a diverse and extensive pool of experts, while keeping a clear focus, drives adoption and prevents complexity. A robust change management framework, with clearly-defined processes for prop

ldi.upenn.edu (dec 2025) For more than 60 years, Congress has debated public policy around long-term care. Meanwhile, middle-class American families struggle to afford the care their older relatives need. Most people will need help with basic daily activities at some point in their lives, and many will be unable to pay for it. In this brief, we present an overview of the current long-term care crisis and its historical context .

lemonde-fr (02.12.2025) Dans un rapport rendu public mardi 2 décembre, la Cour des comptes a analysé les conséquences de la baisse de la fertilité et du vieillissement de la population sur les finances publiques.

E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies (Vol. 14 No. 2 - 2025) This paper examines the challenges facing European social security systems, focusing on Italy and Sweden’s differing approaches to pension reform amid ageing populations. It analyses how demographic shifts—such as declining fertility and increased longevity—are impacting the balance between contributors and beneficiaries in pay-as-you-go (PAYG) schemes.

socialprotection.org (2025) The MENA region faces increasing vulnerability, displacement and humanitarian needs that outpace available resources. While social protection systems exist in several countries, conflict, fragility and parallel humanitarian responses have strained national efforts. Strengthening coordination between humanitarian, development and SP actors is critical to ensure more coherent, efficient and sustainable support and impact.

This report focuses on the digitalisation of front- and back-office processes in monetary social benefits. In 10 EU Member States and Norway, a digital application is possible for all, or all but one, of the nine benefits investigated. In at least five Member States, paper applications have been discontinued for some of the benefits. The automation of benefits, which removes the need to apply and prevents non-take-up, is most common for child benefits. Digitalisation is often applied to identify overpayments, but rarely to detect cases of non-take-up.

reuters.com (20.11.2025) Across Europe, politicians increasingly tout private pensions as a cure-all for reviving stagnant stock exchanges, fostering entrepreneurship and curbing ballooning public spending as populations age. But any governments that bet on this solution may be disappointed. A proliferation of individual piggybanks will not solve the deeper challenges that flow from having purchasing power ever-more concentrated in older hands.

dailyindependent.com (18.11.2025) The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has launched a revolutionary Social Protection Wallet for its registered beneficiary women, marking a historic step towards digital financial inclusion. In line with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s vision for a cashless economy, BISP has begun distributing free mobile SIMs to approximately one million eligible women across the country. This initiative also reflects the social protection vision of President Asif Ali Zardari and is considered among the largest social protection projects globally.

helpage.org (05.11.2025) HelpAge International’s 2024–25 Learning Report explores how ageism interacts with other forms of discrimination such as ableism and sexism, and how social factors like displacement, poverty, and gender shape older people’s experiences of exclusion.

ilo.org (13.11.2025) Organized under the framework of the Estidama++ programme, implemented by the SSC with technical support from the ILO and funding from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway, the workshop aimed at fostering dialogue dialogue and knowledge exchange international experiences and mechanisms for contribution subsidies across different national contexts. It also highlighted the Jordanian experience through the Estidama++ programme as a national model for developing contribution subsidy mechanisms to include workers in the informal economy.

ilo.org (11.11.2025) A new ILO report, From Reform to Reality: Understanding Perceptions of Iraq’s New Social Security Law, presents evidence from a rapid survey of 121 formal enterprises and 300 workers in Baghdad and Basra. The findings show strong support for the objectives of the 2023 social security reform, but also reveal persistent gaps in awareness, enrolment and access to benefits. While most employers report registering their workers, many workers are unaware of their coverage, and only a small share have attempted to claim benefits.

euobserver.com (11.11.2025) In Spain, there are three main food delivery platforms operating in the market: Glovo (by far the largest in the country, headquartered in Barcelona), Just Eat, and Uber Eats - each of them have reacted differently to the country's 2021 Rider Law.

ilo.org (03.11.2025) This document analyzes how Chile, Morocco, the Philippines and Spain are advancing in the design and implementation of public care policies, highlighting their progress, challenges and lessons learned. The report demonstrates that investing in care systems can create jobs, reduce inequalities and strengthen social protection.

ilo.org (05.11.2025) Since the 2000s, China has made significant progress towards the extension of social insurance coverage to its entire population. Alongside this progress, growing demand for convenient and high-quality social insurance services has driven efforts to establish a nationwide service platform. The Unified Social Insurance Public Service Platform, launched in 2019, integrates national and local platforms, social security cards and service windows to provide comprehensive and seamless services.

manilatimes.net (11.03.2025) A nationwide initiative led by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has made strides this year, using a "centralized collective bargaining" campaign between platform companies and their workers.

oecd.org (30.10.2025) Informality is one of Latin America’s most persistent challenges, shaping the lives of millions of workers and their families. Nearly half of the region’s labour force works outside formal arrangements, without secure contracts, stable incomes, or access to social protection.

Building a Comprehensive Social Security System Fit for a Modern Jordan highlights how inclusive lifecycle benefits can close critical gaps in the country’s current system. Today, many children, persons with disabilities, older people and informal workers remain excluded from protection. The paper sets out how Jordan can expand coverage through benefits that support citizens across all stages of life, helping to reduce poverty, strengthen resilience and extend security to the majority of Jordanians in the coming years.