In Asia and the Pacific

In this region, only a few countries, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, have long-established, comprehensive social security systems. Most of the countries described as, tiger economies, have developed their national social security schemes in more recent years, each of them in quite distinctive ways reflecting their different preferences, Thailand and the Republic of Korea through schemes based, at least partially, on social insurance principles, while Malaysia and Singapore have instituted mandatory Provident Funds through which their worker-citizens make substantial savings against future "rainy days".

A number of countries are presently described as being, "in transition" from centralized, highly-regulated to liberalized, free-market economies. China is the pre-eminent example, and has given the responsibility to its provincial administrations to develop corresponding, new approaches to the social protection needs of its workers. Vietnam is another relatively populous country in economic transition, and over the last decade has progressed some way along the road towards the goal of providing full and appropriate social protection for its people.

The remaining countries of the region are, almost without exception, characterized by the relatively large size of their informal economies. It has proved very difficult indeed to provide effective social protection for the vast numbers of workers who, typically, work on an irregular or casual basis, without formal contracts, and often without an identifiable "employer" to share the cost of social security contributions. In countries such as India, a wide variety of ways have been attempted in recent years to provide at least some level of coverage, and increasingly it is recognized that significant progress is likely only through complementary approaches, on the one hand put in place on a relatively formal basis by the national and state governments, and on the other hand initiatives developed at the "grassroots" by workers themselves, notably of the kind described, broadly, as "micro-insurance".

A source of concern across the region is the needs of ageing populations, with some countries, such as Sri Lanka, having already progressed into their "demographic transition", while for others the explosion of the elderly population is still on the horizon. In these circumstances, and in times of economic stress which limit the potential funds which may be available, the question is asked with increasing urgency as to whether social protection efforts should be focused on long-term needs (mainly old-age pensions) or short-term (in particular, health care).

In all of these scenarios, the ILO is working actively with its social partners, recognizing that social security is quintessentially a subject which brings together the concerns of governments, workers and employers, and bringing to bear the fruits of its long, global experience in this field.