Responding to the G20 announcement to make $750bn available to the IMF to assist emerging and developing countries, HelpAge International is urging for funding to be used to build social security schemes that put money directly into the hands of the world’s poor and deliver long-term income security.

Over 80 per cent of people worldwide currently have no access to social security, including 100 million older people struggling to survive on less than $1 a day. The economic downturn is pushing this vulnerable group even further into poverty.

Providing a regular minimum income through social security schemes such as social pensions and child grants offers vulnerable groups predictability and protection against future shocks.

More importantly, putting cash directly into people’s hands will help to stimulate the economy. Thailand and Russia are just two of the latest countries to expand pension schemes as part of economic stimulus packages.

HelpAge International warns that focusing funding on short-term safety-net assistance at the expense of investing in sustainable solutions to poverty will push the Millennium Development Goals even further out of reach.

Richard Blewitt, Chief Executive of HelpAge International, says:

“We welcome the G20’s commitment to supporting developing countries that have played no part in the creation of this crisis. For the world’s poor, this is just the latest blow hot on the heels of rising food and oil prices.

“It is essential that the money pledged to the IMF is used not only for immediate support, but to build sustainable social security schemes. Otherwise the most vulnerable, including older people, will be in exactly the same position next time a crisis strikes.

“If the G20 is serious about meeting the Millennium Development Goals, it must seize this opportunity to invest in long-term measures that will lift people out of poverty for good.”

HelpAge International estimates show that the average annual cost of providing a social pension for older people in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia – three of Africa’s poorest countries - would constitute just one fifth of annual overall international donor assistance. Many developing countries could introduce a social pension for less than 2% of GDP.

In countries where they have already been introduced, pensions have proven an effective tool in reducing poverty. In South Africa, the overall poverty gap has dropped by 20 per cent as a result of the introduction of a social pension.

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Notes to Editors

1.  Spokespeople are available for comment. Please contact Julia Pitman on the numbers above.

2.  HelpAge International is a global network of organisations helping older people claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty, so that they can lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives. www.helpage.org

3.  Annual cost of a social pension for older people in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia is based on HelpAge International estimates and ODA to these countries as detailed in DFID’s Statistics on International Development 2003/04 – 2007/08

4.  Impact of the non-contributory pension on poverty in South Africa figures from Samson, 2006

5. HelpAge International is a member of the Put People First campaign, a coalition of development charities, trade unions, faith groups, environmentalists and other organisations, formed in response to call for a fair, sustainable route out of recession.