🛡️ STATE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION: The Billion Uncovered

The Missing Net – 1.6 Billion in the Balance
“A billion dreams fall not from hunger alone—but from the absence of hands waiting to catch them.”

Theme & Tags:
🌍 Global Inequality, Social Justice, Poverty Eradication, Public Policy
📘 Category: Economy & International Development | GS Paper 2 & 3

🧺 Opening Whisper

What protects the poor is not always seen — but when absent, it echoes louder than a storm.

🌐 Key Highlights

• The Report
  • Released by: World Bank, 2025
  • Title: State of Social Protection: Reshaping Equity
  • Focus: Global access to safety nets, income support, and social assistance
• Global Gaps
  • 1.6 billion people receive no social protection
  • In low-income countries (LICs):
    • 80% lack any coverage
  • In lower-middle-income countries (LMICs):
    • 30% inadequately covered
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: 70% completely unprotected

📉 Economic Stratification

• Total uncovered population largest in middle-income nations, due to size

📊 Progress Made, But Slow

• 2010–2022: Coverage rose from 41% to 51%
• Growth mainly via cash transfers & social assistance
• Yet, 75% in LICs still lack protection
• Digital infrastructure, funding gaps, and governance remain barriers

📆 Future Outlook

• At current pace, full coverage of extreme poor may take till 2043
• Missed timelines = SDG targets for 2030 unachievable
• Climate shocks may drive 130 million more into extreme poverty

💰 Resource Allocation

• Global average spending = 5.3% of GDP
• LICs spend only 0.8% on social assistance
• Fossil fuel & agri subsidies = redirection opportunity
  • Could boost pro-poor support systems

🛠️ Recommendations

• Tailored strategies by income level
• Digitally-enabled, climate-resilient systems
• Focus on:
  • Targeted assistance
  • Universal child and elderly support
  • Disaster-responsive safety nets

📚 GS Mains Mapping

• GS Paper 2
  • Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections
  • Issues Relating to Poverty and Hunger
  • International Reports & Policy Recommendations
• GS Paper 3
  • Public Spending & Budget Priorities
  • Role of Inclusive Growth in SDG Achievement
  • Climate Change and Socioeconomic Vulnerability

🪶 A Thought Spark — by IAS Monk

Social protection is not a luxury. It is the quiet pact between state and citizen that the storm will not take you without warning.

🧷 Closing Whisper

In the pause between one paycheck and the next, a life either falls—or finds a cushion called dignity.