Summary

This study provides global, regional and country-level estimates of the financing gap to achieve universal social protection, including universal access to five key social protection guarantees (that is, for children, persons with severe disabilities, mothers of newborns, older persons and the unemployed) and essential health care. The estimations cover 133 low- and-middle-income countries. It is important to underline that the methodology used to calculate the financing gap provides a broad global overview and cannot replace the fine-grained country-level costing and fiscal planning exercises that are urgently needed to guide national action in building social protection systems and floors.