Resumen

The primary objective of this study, which was also undertaken by Halcrow, was to construct an internationally comparable Social Protection Index (SPI) that provides a realistic and acceptable summary of the overall level of social protection activities in the country. The SPI provides a summary measurement tool of the extent to which Asian countries provide welfare, social security, health insurance, micro-credit, child protection, targeted education and health support programs to their citizens, and especially those living below the poverty line. The SPI was designed to be a starting point for diagnostic evaluations of national Social Protection (SP) programs, to enable the monitoring of changes in SP provision over time, and to facilitate international comparisons of SP provision. The SPI, conceptually based on the Human Development index (HDI), was derived from four component indicators (SP expenditure, SP coverage, SP distribution/ poverty targeting and SP impact on incomes).