Adequacy of social safety net programs (% of total welfare of beneficiary households) by country
Adequacy of social safety net programs is measured by the total transfer amount received by the population participating in social safety net programs as a share of their total welfare. Welfare is defined as the total income or total expenditure of beneficiary households. Social safety net programs include cash...
What the numbers show
Adequacy of social safety net programs (% of total welfare of beneficiary households) is currently reported for 35 countries. The highest value is 42.3% in Georgia; the lowest is 0.7% in Colombia.
The median across all reporting countries is 9.8%, and the mean is 13.0%.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 61.
Over the past decade 23 countries rose and 12 fell. The largest increase was in El Salvador (up 558.6%), and the largest decrease in Honduras (down 87.1%).
Adequacy of social safety net programs: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 42.3% | 2021 | up 45.1% | rising |
| 2 | Armenia | 30.0% | 2022 | up 64.7% | rising |
| 3 | Kosovo (UNSCR 1244) | 27.9% | 2017 | down 17.9% | falling |
| 3 | Kosovo | 27.9% | 2017 | down 17.9% | falling |
| 5 | Serbia | 26.4% | 2022 | up 38.9% | rising |
| 6 | Brazil | 25.9% | 2022 | up 185.1% | rising |
| 7 | Poland | 22.4% | 2019 | up 159.5% | rising |
| 8 | Kazakhstan | 19.8% | 2021 | up 215.1% | volatile |
| 9 | Kyrgyzstan | 16.9% | 2020 | up 100.6% | rising |
| 10 | Chile | 16.8% | 2022 | up 128.2% | rising |
| 11 | Costa Rica | 15.0% | 2022 | up 21.3% | rising |
| 12 | Ecuador | 14.8% | 2022 | up 41.9% | rising |
| 13 | Romania | 14.6% | 2021 | up 25.8% | rising |
| 14 | Belarus | 13.4% | 2019 | up 79.2% | volatile |
| 15 | Republic of Moldova | 13.2% | 2018 | up 52.0% | rising |
| 16 | Argentina | 12.8% | 2022 | up 22.4% | rising |
| 17 | Mexico | 10.7% | 2022 | up 5.0% | falling |
| 18 | Mongolia | 9.8% | 2020 | up 65.2% | rising |
| 19 | Türkiye | 9.4% | 2019 | up 47.7% | rising |
| 20 | Indonesia | 9.4% | 2022 | down 41.2% | volatile |
| 21 | Viet Nam | 8.8% | 2020 | down 2.5% | volatile |
| 22 | Panama | 8.1% | 2023 | up 23.5% | rising |
| 23 | Dominican Republic | 6.9% | 2021 | up 54.0% | rising |
| 24 | Sri Lanka | 6.5% | 2019 | up 91.2% | rising |
| 25 | Paraguay | 5.6% | 2022 | down 57.7% | falling |
| 26 | Uruguay | 5.2% | 2022 | up 89.5% | falling |
| 27 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 4.9% | 2021 | down 33.4% | falling |
| 28 | Pakistan | 4.9% | 2018 | down 72.4% | falling |
| 29 | Thailand | 4.9% | 2021 | down 28.0% | volatile |
| 30 | Malawi | 4.5% | 2019 | up 149.0% | rising |
| 31 | Peru | 4.2% | 2022 | down 57.2% | falling |
| 32 | Ukraine | 4.0% | 2020 | down 57.7% | falling |
| 33 | El Salvador | 3.2% | 2022 | up 558.6% | falling |
| 34 | Honduras | 2.6% | 2019 | down 87.1% | volatile |
| 35 | Colombia | 0.7% | 2022 | down 86.6% | volatile |
About this data
Adequacy of social safety net programs is measured by the total transfer amount received by the population participating in social safety net programs as a share of their total welfare. Welfare is defined as the total income or total expenditure of beneficiary households. Social safety net programs include cash transfers and last resort programs, noncontributory social pensions, other cash transfers programs (child, family and orphan allowances, birth and death grants, disability benefits, and other allowances), conditional cash transfers, in-kind food transfers (food stamps and vouchers, food rations, supplementary feeding, and emergency food distribution), school feeding, other social assistance programs (housing allowances, scholarships, fee waivers, health subsidies, and other social assistance) and public works programs (cash for work and food for work). Estimates include both direct and indirect beneficiaries.