Review of the Social Security Law (amended version) 2018 of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

The technical note offers observations and recommendations concerning the Social Security Law of Lao PDR, with the aim of guiding the amendment of its articles and formulation of the new draft Law. The comments and suggestions are based on the principles and benchmarks in international labour standards on social security. These are supplemented by recommendations from the actuarial valuation of the National Social Security Fund.

The note was presented and submitted to the Lao Social Security Organisation and the Social Security Law Amendment Committee in May 2024. The amendments to the Law will reflect the Government’s decisions on various policy options, including changes to the qualifying conditions for specific benefits, benefit calculation rules, and financing. Although details of these policy reforms are yet to be finalised as of the time of finalisation of this note, it refers to some of the proposed amendments based on an interim draft Law made available to the ILO.