ABSTRACT
Evidence collected from the International Social Security Association member organizations and elsewhere indicates that there is a sea-change occurring in the current debate about social security. The risk factor in old-age is equally striking in other parts of the world. In the United States, for example, the Social Security Administration estimates that without their national old-age pension program, 42 percent of the retired population would fall the poverty line. The “greying” of the population has been well documented and discussed; the implications of this worldwide trend for pensions, health and other branches of social security will continue to be the subject of research and evaluation for the foreseeable future. The societies which embrace most citizens of the world have not become freer of risks and social security officials have been among the first to point out that the risks have in many parts of the world even increased.
