UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2019) A new report by the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO) has found that more than $500 billion a year are needed to be invested in social coverage measures to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.
"Spending on coverage needs to increase dramatically to achieve universal coverage of a basic set of social protection measures," the ILO said on Monday. "More than US$500 billion a year needs to be invested if countries are to meet a basic set of social protection measures - known as a social protection floor - by 2030."
The ILO said that this increase in investment should support protection measures for children, maternity benefits for mothers with newborns, disability benefits and old-age pensions.
According to the report, which examined 134 countries, only 8.5 percent of children and 15.3 percent of older persons are covered with social protection in low-income countries, while in upper-middle-income states, 35 percent of children and 90 percent of older persons are covered.
The report suggested that to finance a universal social protection floor, low-income countries would need to spend $27 billion a year of their Gross Domestic Product. The lower-middle-income countries would need to appropriate $136 billion, and the upper-middle-income states would need to spend $365 billion per year.
The necessary financial is possible to attain through the increase in tax revenues, extending social security coverage, strengthening official development assistance with a focus on low-income countries and countering illicit financial flows, the report added.
The SDG is a set of goals that the United Nations has enshrined in Resolution 70/1 for the international community to achieve by 2030. The agenda includes eliminating poverty and hunger, reducing inequality and providing clean water and sanitation, as well as a number of environmental and economic objectives.
