ABSTRACT
Social security is not only a human right and results in a comprehensive protection against a variety of risks in life, but also forms the prerequisite for a broad-based inclusive growth and the integration of the poverty-striken population into the labour market. In the 21st century, social security systems worldwide are under increasing pressure due to growing economic and social imbalances and social tensions. Life chances are unequally distributed within the population. Poor and economically weak groups are disproportionately affected by increasing hazards and risks, as they have very limited reliable risk coping strategies. In international development cooperation, the establishment and expansion of social security systems became an important field of activity already in the 1980s. The International Labour Organization and the World Bank have traditionally, or in response to growing criticism of socially unbalanced structural adjustment programmes, led the way in the international debate over the development of social security in developing countries.
