Social Security in Africa

Abstract

Africa is the poorest region of the world and has the youngest and least developed social security programs. Most Africans are not covered by social security programs. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in some sub-Saharan countries and internal armed conflicts in others have created difficult problems in some countries for social security programs. As a result, some countries do not have functioning social security programs. The social security programs that do exist in Africa are influenced by their colonial heritage, with the programs in English-speaking Africa differing from those in French-speaking Africa. Six different patterns of social security provision can be identified.     

Social security in the Middle East: a brief review

The countries of the Middle East all have traditional social insurance type social security programs. The move towards defined contribution individual accounts that is occurring in some regions has not affected this region The social security programs in the Middle East are not facing the problems of financing found in Europe and North America, in part because they still have relatively high fertility rates and are thus little affected by population aging. They tend to have low retirement ages and some of the wealthy countries of the region provide very generous benefits. Many of them need to consider reforms that raise retirement ages. A characteristic of many of the social security old-age benefit programs of the region is that they exclude foreign workers, who in some countries account for more than half the workforce.     

Social Security in the Middle East

Abstract

The countries of the Middle East all have traditional social insurance type social security programs. The move towards defined contribution individual accounts that is occurring in some regions has not affected this region The social security programs in the Middle East are not facing the problems of financing found in Europe and North America, in part because they still have relatively high fertility rates and are thus little affected by population aging. They tend to have low retirement ages and some of the wealthy countries of the region provide very generous benefits. Many of them need to consider reforms that raise retirement ages. A characteristic of many of the social security old-age benefit programs of the region is that they exclude foreign workers, who in some countries account for more than half the workforce.     

Social security in Asia and the Pacific: a brief overview

In terms of numbers of people, the global challenges facing social security systems are largely Asian. Because of rapid population aging in Asia, while it accounted for 28% of the world's population aged 60 and older in 1985, that percentage will more than double to 58% in 2050. Provident funds are a prominent feature of retirement income systems in the region-Asia and the Pacific contain the majority of the world's countries with provident funds. These programs typically provide lump-sum benefits, and thus, do not provide annuity protection against outliving one's resources. Because of the influence of Confucian philosophy with its emphasis on family responsibility for elders, countries in the region have been relatively slow in developing social security programs. China does not have a social security program for workers who do not work for the government or in government-owned enterprises.     

Social Security in Asia and the Pacific

Abstract

In terms of numbers of people, the global challenges facing social security systems are largely Asian. Because of rapid population aging in Asia, while it accounted for 28% of the world's population aged 60 and older in 1985, that percentage will more than double to 58% in 2050. Provident funds are a prominent feature of retirement income systems in the region-Asia and the Pacific contain the majority of the world's countries with provident funds. These programs typically provide lump-sum benefits, and thus, do not provide annuity protection against outliving one's resources. Because of the influence of Confucian philosophy with its emphasis on family responsibility for elders, countries in the region have been relatively slow in developing social security programs. China does not have a social security program for workers who do not work for the government or in government-owned enterprises.     

试论伊朗核问题对阿拉伯国家的辐射效应

2006年末,正当伊朗坚持推进其核计划时,海湾及北非部分阿拉伯国家也先后提出了自己的核研制计划,引起了国际社会的普遍关注。后冷战时代,新一轮核竞赛出现向欧美以外的其他热点地区转移的倾向:从朝鲜半岛到南亚次大陆再到中东地区,上述三个地区沿欧亚大陆的边缘形成一条弧线,使《核不扩散条约》受到巨大挑战。阿拉伯国家的核计划与核设想有着深刻的国际和地区关联性,但计划的实现也会面临诸多因素的制约,包括经济能力不足、技术水平低下、国内民众反对和大国的劝阻。阿拉伯国家谋求核技术旨在显示一种姿态,希望国际社会能因此向伊朗施加更多的压力。     

Economic security for the elderly in India: an overview

The basic concept of social security is not new in India. Traditionally, a sort of moral economy existed to provide security to older destitute and other vulnerable groups in society. However, gradually, traditional support systems are disappearing, and state-based social security systems have come into existence. Under standardized economic security policies, government is covering retirement benefits for those in the organized sector; economic security benefits for those in the unorganized sector; and old-age pension for rural elderly. These are contributory as well as non-contributory programs. Besides life insurance approaches, savings-linked insurance and Annapurna (food security) are other important programs. However, in terms of coverage, program quality and effectiveness have been largely criticized by social security experts, suggesting immediate reforms to old-age programs.     

Irregular migration: policy responses in Africa and Asia

This article reviews population policies designed to curb or respond to irregular migration flows, with particular emphasis on policies adopted by governments in Africa and Asia. An overview of policies on the world level indicates a number of similarities that transcend regional lines and levels of development. Policy decisions are often influenced by the nature and attributes of the undocumented migrant population and by the current social, economic, and political situation in the receiving country. Governments are frequently more tolerant of migrants who possess needed skills or settle in sparsely populated areas that have manpower shortages. Between the 2 policy extremes of amnesty and deportation, several measures have been employed, including stricter border controls, stringent visa requirements, work permit systems, and efforts to ensure that migrants do not violate the conditions of their admission. In many cases, several policy measures are used simultaneously. Ensuring the observance of appropriate measures for the recruitment of migrant workers, their departure from the home country, and placement in employment in the country of immigration is widely regarded as the best way to prevent illegal movements of workers. Temporary worker programs are sometimes advocated to provide legal channels for potential migrants. At the national level, institutions that deal with irregular migrants tend to be limited in their mandate to a law enforcement role. In Africa, most governments have recently strengthened border and documentary controls and attempted to regulate migration through the labor market. In many cases, mass expulsions have been necessary as a result of laissez-faire policies. In Asia, on the other hand, mass deportation has been less common as a result of more stringent security measures and documentary controls. In both countries, policies have been basically reactive in response to rapidly changing political and economic conditions. Needed is an international convention to serve as a guideline for the humanitarian treatment of undocumented workers.     

A global perspective on social security programs for the aged

The social security programs that have become widely established in countries around the globe vary greatly in their design features. The difference among the programs invites questions regarding the relative strength of their designs. One hundred and sixty-four programs are assessed on three design dimensions: benefit eligibility, qualifying eligibility criteria, and benefit provision. The analysis shows that the best-designed old-age programs can be found in Western Europe and Australasia.     

Economic Security for the Elderly in India

Summary

The basic concept of social security is not new in India. Traditionally, a sort of moral economy existed to provide security to older destitute and other vulnerable groups in society. However, gradually, traditional support systems are disappearing, and state-based social security systems have come into existence. Under standardized economic security policies, government is covering retirement benefits for those in the organized sector; economic security benefits for those in the unorganized sector; and old-age pension for rural elderly. These are contributory as well as non-contributory programs. Besides life insurance approaches, savings-linked insurance and Annapurna (food security) are other important programs. However, in terms of coverage, program quality and effectiveness have been largely criticized by social security experts, suggesting immediate reforms to old-age programs.     

The Politics of Home: Dual Citizenship and the African Diaspora1

In recent decades, more countries have started to recognize dual citizenship. Although overlooked in the literature, Africa is part of this trend with more than half of its governments now permitting their nationals to naturalize elsewhere while retaining home country rights. Why have some African countries embraced dual citizenship for emigrants, while others have not? We examine demographic, political, and economic data broadly across the continent and identify few clear patterns. We then explore the cases of Senegal, Ghana, and Kenya, finding that dual citizenship policies are driven as much by politics as they are by economic or security concerns.     

Guestworkers in Europe: A Resurrection?

Around 1974, most Western European countries abandoned migrant labor recruitment, and introduced restrictive entry rules. Today, policymakers are reexamining temporary migrant worker programs. This article examines demographic, economic, and social pressures for labor recruitment, discusses temporary migrant worker programs in Germany and the United Kingdom, and examines the European Commission's 2005 Policy Plan for Legal Migration. Current approaches differ significantly from the past and there is no question of a general return to labor recruitment policies. However, today's policies do share some common features with past guestworker programs, and may lead to negative social outcomes in both receiving and sending countries.     

Policies and practices in support of family caregivers - filial obligations redefined in Sweden

This article provides an overview of how the expression of filial obligations has shifted over time in Sweden. Historically, and currently in many countries, the family, next of kin, and the social network are the only or major sources of help, as it was in Sweden till half a century ago. The article also explores how various aspects of solidarity-public and private-have developed and are changing in Sweden, known for its extensive welfare programs, with "from cradle to grave" security. It concludes that intergenerational solidarity has not vanished in Sweden; just the manifestations have changed.     

Decolonising and decriminalising child marriage in Africa

Child marriages, often attributed to culture and gender inequality, are prevalent across Africa. Several countries have moved to criminalise the practice. At the core of the criminalisation debate are the fundamental tensions between statutory (state) law on the one hand, and religious and customary law on the other. The growing momentum towards punishment, targeted almost invariably at male offenders, is meant to address the conflict between cultural practices that lead to child marriage and the protection of children's rights. However, some countries have not criminalised child marriage. Thus, the outlawry of child marriages is not universal on the continent. The agitation towards criminalisation—I describe this as ‘popular punitvism’ - as a panacea, is animated by Western penological justifications, principally, deterrence. However, Western criminological and penological theories may not fully account for a phenomenon in other social and geographical spaces. The paper argues for decolonising and decriminalising child marriages in Africa but not legalising it.     

Social protection is a grassroots reality: Making the case for policy reflections on community‐based social protection actors and services in Africa

In Africa, the state is not the biggest responder to poverty and social vulnerability. While international attention has searched for State remedies to State shortfalls, the poor themselves have taken a different route. They have improvised, organized, delivered and governed their social protection (SP) services using grassroots mechanisms without State support. Based on empirical studies in 30 districts in six African countries, this article makes the case that the highly localized models may not be perfect, but are probably the best fit for implementing an all‐encompassing SP policy in Africa. The challenge for policy will be to harness this potential—not by trying to turn grassroots organizations into something they are not, but by supporting what they already are.     

The refugee factor in Botswana

Refugees to Botswana have included mass influxes of rural peoples from South West Africa/Namibia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and South Africa as well as smaller numbers of political activists from each of these territories and Lesotho. The government of Botswana, with the benefit of substantial external assistance, has evolved a legal, organizational and policy response to enable it to cope with the economic, social, political and security strains which result from refugee movements. The policies applied by the government have included moving refugees on to third countries, resettlement, voluntary repatriation, encampment, and measures designed to discourage all save genuine refugees. Although there have been notable successes with each of these techniques, neither singly nor collectively have they proved a panacea for the problems resulting from refugee movements     

Fragmentation in Social Security Old-Age Benefit Provision in China

Currently, in many countries most workers are covered by a national social security benefits program that applies equally in all parts of the country. In China, however, social security old-age benefits are provided in a highly fragmented manner. This article documents the high degree of fragmentation. It discusses both why that has occurred and the effects of the fragmentation on participants. It examines effects of the fragmentation on benefit levels, focusing on variations in the generosity of benefit formulas but also considering other measures of benefit adequacy. Fragmentation is seen to cause differences in benefit levels even within a single city. While the new National Rural Pension Scheme is a major improvement in the provision of retirement security for rural workers, important differences still exist in the social security programs for urban and rural workers.     

Education and fertility: policy implications for developing countries

Efforts to reduce the high rates of population growth in Africa are largely hampered by a social and political climate which does not recognize high birth rates as a problem. Only 2 countries (Kenya and Ghana) are actively antinatalist officially, the rest being actively pronatalist or taking no firm stand. The author argues that support for family planning will grow only when governments support mass education programs. A framework showing the linkages between fertility and formal education is developed. On the demographic level, pursuit of higher levels of education delays entry into marriage, directly and through pursuit of occupations which do not encourage early marriage. Lowered infant mortality through improved utilization of modern health care by the educated also leads to reduced fertility. On the sociocultural level, migration to urban centers among the educated leads to new cultural norms and constraints on large families from the pursuit of modern careers. The author asserts that the inverse relation between education and fertility is well known, and that national support for mass education is needed to speed economic development, change the position of women and alter peoples' values.     

Social policy and population growth in South-East Asia

Social and population policies are considered for the 10 countries comprising Southeast Asia--Burma, Indonesia, the Khmer Republic, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. All but Singapore have high fertility rates and Burma, Indonesia, the Khmer Republic, Laos and the two Vietnams have high mortality rates also. Government expenditures for education and social security systems is expanding throughout the region and it is hoped that their continued growth will contribute substantially to the effective implementation of population policies. Population policies in the 5 countries which have them are discussed. These are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. It is noted, however, that declaration of policy is but the first step. Strategies and programs differ from one country to the next and depend very much on the stage of development, level of literacy, degree of urbanization, and other factors. Family planning activities generally are endogenous to urban social systems but exogenous to rural social systems. Thus, the rural elite has a large role to play in making population policies an integral part of rural life. The possibility is considered of developing workable incentive packages integrating health, education, and social security benefits with suitable emphasis on fertility reduction.