World Bank’s 2025 report titled “The State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge”, reveals that 1.6 billion people globally receive no social protection and nearly 2 billion lack adequate coverage, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LICs & MICs). The report calls for urgent reforms to ensure inclusive, climate-resilient, and shock-responsive protection.
What is Social Protection?
- A set of public measures to protect individuals/families from economic & social distress.
- Three Pillars:
- Social Assistance (e.g. cash transfers, food aid)
- Social Insurance (e.g. pensions, health, unemployment)
- Labour Market Programs
- Impact: High ROI- For every $1 transferred, $2.50 circulates in the local economy.
Key Global Findings (as of 2025)
Global Gap:
- 2 billion people lack adequate protection in LICs and MICs.
- 1.6 billion have no protection at all.
- The remaining live in poverty with inadequate benefits.
Climate, Fragility & Conflict Risks:
- Climate change may push 130 million more into extreme poverty by 2030.
- By 2030, 60% of world’s extreme poor will live in fragile/conflict-affected states.
Country-Wise Coverage:
| Country Category | Completely Uncovered | Inadequately Covered |
| LICs | 80% | +3% |
| LMICs | 30%+ | — |
| UMICs | 11% | 6% |
MICs bear the biggest burden: 1.2 billion uncovered vs. 500 million in LICs.
Sub-Saharan Africa: 70%+ population uncovered.
Extreme Poverty & Protection:
- 88% of global poor unprotected.
- LICs: 98% of extreme poor lack support.
- Sub-Saharan Africa: 97% unprotected.
Progress 2010–2022:
| Metric | Status |
| Coverage in 73 countries | Rose from 41% to 51% |
| LICs Improvement | +17 percentage points for poorest |
| Yet in 2022 | 75% of LICs & 58% of LMICs uncovered |
| Social Insurance Coverage | 2% in LICs; 8% in LMICs |
Way Forward:
- Full coverage of extreme poor by 2043.
- Poorest 20% with adequate protection by 2045.
- 2030 SDG Goal: Unachievable at current pace.
Social Protection Spending & Gaps
| Indicator | Value |
| Global Avg. Spending | 5.3% of GDP |
| LICs | 0.8% of GDP on social assistance |
| High-income countries | Spend 5.3x more (as % of GDP) |
| Social Insurance | Gets most funding, benefits formal sector |
| Fragile States | 77% programs funded by international aid |
Barriers & Recommendations
| Issue | Recommendation |
| Low domestic funding | Redirect fossil fuel/agri subsidies to pro-poor spending |
| Delivery system issues | Build dynamic social registries, digital payments, integrated case management |
| Climate responsiveness | Develop shock-responsive, climate-resilient, and digitally enabled platforms |
State of Social Protection in India (2024)
| Indicator | Value |
| Coverage (ILO Report 2024–26) | Rose from 24.4% (2021) to 48.8% (2024) |
| Govt. Estimate (MoLE) | 65% of population (920 million) covered |
| Poverty Reduction | 24.8 crore exited multi-dimensional poverty (2013–2023) |
Major Government Schemes for Social Protection:
| Scheme | Highlights |
| Ayushman Bharat (AB-PMJAY) | 39.94 crore beneficiaries; ₹5 lakh health cover/family |
| Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) | 80.67 crore received free food grains (Dec 2024) |
| eShram Portal | 30.68 crore workers registered; 53.68% women |
| Atal Pension Yojana (APY) | 7.25 crore enrolled informal sector workers |