In sub-Saharan Africa, about 16.9 per cent of older persons receive an old-age pension which would provide him or her with a certain level of income security during old age, says a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Effective coverage ratios are around 5.9 per cent of the working-age population in sub-Saharan Africa and owing to the high proportion of informal employment in sub-Saharan Africa, only 8.4 per cent of the labour force contributes to pension insurance and earns rights to a contributory pension.
As a result, income in security remains the trend while older men and women must keep working as long as they can - often in poorly paid, precarious conditions.
The ILO study "Social Protection for older persons: Key policy trends and statistics" (http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/WCMS_310211/lang--en/index.htm) shows that low-income countries have been expanding pension coverage through a mix of contributory and non-contributory, tax-financed social pensions.
Most developing countries combine contributory systems with a minimum social pension to older persons without a contributory pension (e.g. Lesotho ), other countries provide a social pension to all (e.g. Botswana ) and some other choose gradual and progressive realization (e.g. South Africa ).
The Older Persons' Grant in South Africa , for example, although means-tested, effectively covers the majority of older people in the country and effectively prevents the recipients and their families from falling into poverty.
Increasing social security contributions/revenues is a major concern in countries like Lesotho , Namibia and South Africa . However, public non-health social protection expenditure for older persons yet accounts for only 1.3 per cent of GDP in Africa , where the share of older persons in the total population is significantly lower.
TNS 24KuanRap-141001 30FurigayJof-4882179 30FurigayJof
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