The standard narrative across the continent is of a small percentage of the population in formal employment for whom social security is possible.
The majority of people in Africa lack social protection. The standard narrative across the continent is of a small percentage of the population in formal employment for whom social security is possible. When you consider the latest available statistics of formal measures of social protection, such as the working-age population above 15 years old covered by pension schemes (active contributors as a percentage) and the labour force above the age of 15 covered by a pension scheme (active contributors as a percentage), the comparative figures for Africa are low.
For Africa in general, and more specifically sub-Saharan Africa, urgent measures are required to improve future pension coverage for economically active Africans who are of working age and actively contributing to existing pension schemes.
Only 8.5% of working-age Africans have pension coverage compared to 32.5% of their global counterparts. This is still alarmingly low.
The latest Bright Africa Pensions research highlights the measures required to improve future pension coverage for economically active Africans.
learn moreWhere pensions systems exist across most of Africa, they do so against a backdrop of elevated levels of informality in labour markets. The result is that the pension contributions outside of the public sector are intermittent and relatively low.
learn moreThe standard narrative across the continent is of a small percentage of the population in formal employment for whom social security is possible.
learn moreAfrica can leverage its high mobile telephony penetration and digital adoption to tackle a foundational challenge to improved provision of social protection: enrollment.
learn moreAccording to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), assets in pension funds continued to grow throughout 2020, growing by 11% from the end of 2019 to a reported USD56 trillion as of the end of 2020.
learn morePension savings on the continent are growing, but this growth can be accelerated through paradigm shifts around pension policy, regulation, incentives and mediums to enable greater participation rates.
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