HelpAge International How older people spend their pensions Universal benefits: delivering rights and reducing poverty 8 th February 2007 Sylvia Beales

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 members  Quantity 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 BangladeshBoliviaBrazilLesothoSouth Africa Utilitiesn/a5%23%n/a12% Health care30%20%11%8%3% Education  Enrolments of year olds are significantly higher among rural Brazilian households  50% of pensioners in Lesotho spend on education and associated costs.

Investing in businesses  Namibia 25 – 50% invested in productive enterprises  Bangladesh 10% invested in income-generating activities e.g. tea stalls, handicraft businesses, goat-rearing and growing vegetables  Lesotho 11% 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 future  South Africa: 5% Brazil: 4%

Supporting those affected by HIV & AIDS Add photo  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

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Sources Carvalho, 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, 2006 Croome, 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, 2006 HelpAge International, Non-contributory pensions and poverty reduction, HelpAge International, IDPM 2003 HelpAge International, Age and Security, HelpAge International, 2004 HelpAge International, Why social pensions are needed now, HelpAge International, London, 2006 LPIG 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, 2006 Moller, V and Ferreira, M, 2003 ‘NCPPS South Africa Survey Report’, Cape Town, cited on HAI website Pension Watch a Pension Watch b Pension Watch c Rajan, SI, Old age allowance programme in Nepal, cited in HelpAge International, Age and Security, HelpAge International, 2004 Saboia, J, ‘Non-contributory pensions for the elderly in Brazil’, NCPP Report, Rio de Janeiro, cited on HAI website Samson, 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 2006 Samson, M, 2006b, The Demand for Social Protection, presentation to European Member States Experts Meeting on Employment, Social Protection and Development, Brussels, October 2006