HelpAge International

How older people spend their pensions

Universal benefits: delivering rights and reducing poverty

8th February 2007

Sylvia Beales sbeales@helpage.org

Social pension coverage

Where older people receive a social pension

The impact of social pensions

Reduce chronic poverty and hunger

Increase access to healthcare, water and sanitation and education

Provide capital for investment into local economies

Create jobs

Support families affected by HIV & AIDS

Enhance well-being, dignity & participation

Older people support themselves and their families

Lesotho 50% of pensioners lend or give money to family members

65 % of cash spent on children in their care

Bolivia 23% of cash passed directly onto family members

Boliva and South Africa Pensioners have a lower incidence of deprivations, especially in urban areas

Spending on food for the household

Bangladesh: 60% South Africa: 42% Bolivia: 37% Lesotho: 33%

Impact of spending on food for the household

Lesotho

60% of extra food goes to other household membersQuantity and nutritional quality are improved

South Africa

Girls living in households that receive pensions are 3-4 cm taller

Bolivia

Improved diet of older people and the children they care for

Spending on essential services

Bangladesh Bolivia Brazil Lesotho South Africa

Utilities n/a 5% 23% n/a 12%

Health care 30% 20% 11% 8% 3%

Education Enrolments of 10-14 year olds are significantly higher among rural Brazilian households

50% of pensioners in Lesotho spend on education and associated costs.

Investing in businesses

Namibia25 – 50% invested in productive enterprises

Bangladesh10% invested in income-generating activities e.g. tea stalls, handicraft businesses, goat-rearing and growing vegetables

Lesotho11% of pensioners said the pension made it easier to access credit

Creating jobs and saving for the future

Creating jobs Lesotho: 18% of pensioners spent part of pension creating cash jobs for others

South Africa: Employment rates rise in pension households

Saving for the futureSouth Africa: 5% Brazil: 4%

Supporting those affected by HIV & AIDS

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Pensioners in Lesotho spend 20% of their pension on caring for dependant orphans

Well-being, dignity and participation

Control over their own lives

Able to participate in the community & society

Increased standing within households

Able to contribute to household

Cement intergenerational relationships

“If I do not get this money I will be treated as an undesirable burden and my children will pass me from one house to another”

Bhaagya, 75, Uttar Pradesh, India

HelpAge International

www.helpage.org

SourcesCarvalho, 2000, cited in Barrientos A and de Jong J, Child poverty and cash transfers, CHIP Report 4, CHIP, 2000, cited in HelpAge International 2006, Why social pensions are needed now, HelpAge International, London, 2006Croome, D, 2006, Lesotho pensions Impact Project presentation, Lisbon, October 2006 Duflo E, 2000, cited in Palacios R and Sluchynsky O, Social Pensions Part 1: Their role in the overall pensions system, SP Discussion Paper 0601, World Bank, 2006, cited in HelpAge International 2006, Why social pensions are needed now, HelpAge International, London, 2006HelpAge International, Non-contributory pensions and poverty reduction, HelpAge International, IDPM 2003HelpAge International, Age and Security, HelpAge International, 2004HelpAge International, Why social pensions are needed now, HelpAge International, London, 2006LPIG 2006, Interim Report of the pensioner survey March 2005 – 2006, Lesotho Pension Impact Group, cited in Why social pensions are needed now, HelpAge International, London, 2006Moller, V and Ferreira, M, 2003 ‘NCPPS South Africa Survey Report’, Cape Town, 2003. http://idpm.man.ac.uk/ncpps/report.htm cited on HAI websitePension Watch a http://www.helpage.org/Researchandpolicy/Socialprotection/PensionWatch/Bangladesh Pension Watch b http://www.helpage.org/Researchandpolicy/Socialprotection/PensionWatch/Bolivia Pension Watch c http://www.helpage.org/Researchandpolicy/PensionWatch/Lesotho Rajan, SI, Old age allowance programme in Nepal, cited in HelpAge International, Age and Security, HelpAge International, 2004Saboia, J, ‘Non-contributory pensions for the elderly in Brazil’, NCPP Report, Rio de Janeiro, 2003. http://idpm.man.ac.uk/ncpps/report.htm cited on HAI websiteSamson, M, 2006a, Tackling Poverty with Social Transfers to Vulnerable groups: Evidence from Africa, presentation to International Forum of the eradication of Poverty, New York, November 2006Samson, M, 2006b, The Demand for Social Protection, presentation to European Member States Experts Meeting on Employment, Social Protection and Development, Brussels, October 2006