Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and acronyms
Foreword
Bibliography

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[ 2-BRICS-Foreword.pdf 271.28 kB ]

Brazil’s recent strong economic performance and improved social indicators have received global attention, but much could be done to consolidate these achievements. The extension of coverage, which has been a policy priority for several decades, is a key element to understanding Brazil’s resilience during the global financial and economic crisis. But more growth and employment, a higher quality of state intervention, and improved allocation of resources and personnel are of critical iseemportance. The immediate policy challenges can be met not only via constitutional reform, but, in the shorter term, through administrative reform and improved regulatory performance. The considerable achievements in the extension of social security coverage have been mostly restricted to basic protection involving income transfer or social services. The complexities involved with an ageing and wealthier society are far from resolved, and over 70 per cent of Brazilian families still have insufficient income to cope with their needs. Without further and deeper reforms to reduce inequalities, it will be difficult for the country to achieve its potential.

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[ 2-BRICS-Brazil.pdf 511.97 kB ]

The Russian Federation differs from the other BRICS countries in that although it was able to build on what was a universal social security system in Soviet times it has also been faced with more fundamental and disruptive changes to the environment in which social security operates. In the last 20 years, the country has been subject to a number of significant social, economic and demographic changes which put strains on existing schemes, leading to a reduction in coverage mainly due to the expansion of the informal sector but also reflected in the adequacy of benefits provided. Inequality significantly increased, widening the gap both between and within rural and urban areas. These pressures have stimulated the introduction of comprehensive targeted reforms and efficient policy measures, including a range of obligatory and voluntary programmes.

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[ 2-BRICS-Russian_Federation.pdf 492.97 kB ]

While two decades of economic reform in India have brought changes to the way in which the social security safety net operates, the country’s social and economic situation is itself a challenge to the extension of social security coverage. Over 90 per cent of workers are in the informal sector, and the income of one in five informal workers is below the poverty line. Although new government programmes for food security, health care for the poor, and cash transfers have been put in place, they are mostly ad hoc; some successful experiments failed to live up to expectations when they were scaled up. Microinsurance and micro-pensions might hold out certain promise but also face challenges. This chapter highlights the difficulty of creating nationwide social security programmes that reach and meet the needs of India’s poor.

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[ 2-BRICS-India.pdf 375.36 kB ]

China has established a social security system which for many decades has been based on social insurance (for old-age pensions, medical care, unemployment, work injury and maternity), social assistance and social welfare, centred on the basic old-age pension, basic health care and tax-financed minimum subsistence guarantee, and supplemented by charitable support and private insurance. The past few years have witnessed a significant extension of coverage in both contributory and non-contributory schemes. Under the medical insurance programmes alone, the scope of coverage expanded from 567 million people or 43 per cent of the population in 2006 to more than 1.3 billion or over 95 per cent of the population in 2011. This chapter sheds light on the developments over the past few years as well as the implementation challenges faced and the approaches adopted to extend social security coverage.

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[ 2-BRICS-China.pdf 333.08 kB ]

Almost two decades ago, South Africa moved away from being an apartheid State. South Africa is now a sovereign, democratic State founded on values such as human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms; non-racialism and non-sexism; supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law; and universal adult suffrage, a national common voters roll, regular elections and a multi-party system of democratic government, to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness. One of the issues that the post-apartheid Government had to urgently endeavour to address was the deracialization of the social security system and the extension of its scope of coverage to excluded and marginalized groups and categories of persons. Remarkable progress has been made towards the realization of these goals.It is often said that South Africa has a well-developed social security system for a developing country.

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[ 2-BRICS-South_Africa.pdf 297.12 kB ] 

The five countries making up the BRICS have made huge strides in extending coverage of social security. The Conclusion summarises each country’s key successes achieved in varying economic, social and demographic environments. From these experiences, a series of common challenges - both current and future - and the key selected responses to these are highlighted which provide a context for evaluating the five countries’ achievements and how the approaches adopted can be applied elsewhere.

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[ 2-BRICS-Conclusion.pdf 289.03 kB ]