Over 4 billion don’t have social protection: UN

Social protection includes access to health care and income security measures.

Over half of all people in the world have no social protections, the United Nations said on Wednesday, even after the pandemic spurred countries to offer more services to their populations. In a report on the state of social protection globally, the UN’s International Labour Organization said that 4.1 billion people were living without any social safety net of any kind. Social protection includes access to health care and income security measures related especially to old age, unemployment, sickness, disability, work injury, maternity or the loss of the main breadwinner in a family, as well as extra support for families with children. In 2020, only 46.9% of the global population benefitted from at least one such protection, according to the report — ILOs first on the subject since 2017. That low rate came even as access to healthcare, sickness and unemployment benefits have more than ever proved their relevance during the pandemic.