Can DMCs afford social protection?
Almost all developing countries in Asia and the Pacific can afford basic social protection like financing health care, cash transfers to the poor, and elderly and child protection. This is one of the most striking results of the newly developed Social Protection Index (SPI) created by the ADB and its partners. The index shows that the ability to provide appropriate social protection to a nations citizens is not only a question of the countrys wealth. Virtually every country has a formal social insurance system, though in most cases, is limited to the government and formal employment sectors. Similarly, almost every country has some traditional social welfare programs targeted at vulnerable groups, e.g., the poor, the elderly, the disabled, single and abused women, widows, etc. In general, beneficiaries of these groups are limited to the poorest of the poor. Many countries also have targeted programs to improve educational attendance, e.g., free or subsidized uniforms/textbooks. Several
