A Global Ranking of National Social Security Systems

There has been a very evident growth in descriptive and analytical comparative social security research over the past 40 years, but only Kaim-Caudle has taken up the epistemological and methodological challenges of thecomparative evaluation of social security systems. The purpose of this paper is to rank social security systems in 172 countries using a comparative evaluation methodology that enables an assessment to be made of a country's statutory social security intention. The conclusion drawn is that while seven of the ten best designed social security systems in the world can be found in western Europe, Australia has the best-designed one.