VShis year marks the 30the anniversary of the International Year of the Family (IYF) proclaimed by the United Nations. Over these three decades, demographic changes, technological transformations, migrations, urbanization and climate change have disrupted societies around the world. To respond effectively to these changes, we must review current approaches to social protection and reorient policies towards strengthening intergenerational solidarity.
There Convention 102 of the International Labor Organization, the first (and so far only) international treaty on social security, sets out minimum standards for the provision of family benefits in the form of periodic cash transfers, assistance in kind (food, clothing, housing) or a combination of the two. Around the time of its adoption in 1952, many European countries began to implement generous social protection systems.
In 2020, the expenditure on family benefits in the European Union represented 8.3% of the total social Security benefits. They reached 16.2% in Poland and 15.7% in Luxembourg; Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Romania, Hungary, Denmark and Sweden also recorded double-digit levels. But they are not the only ones: more than 120 low- and middle-income countries have also adopted cash transfer programs for poor families.
A broader approach to the notion of family is necessary
Most of these policies focus on reducing family poverty or providing social protection linked to family conditions, such as conditional cash transfers or allowances for the birth of a child, medical care and expenses schooling, as well as food rations for households headed by women.
These measures helped families cope with caring for sick relatives, improved the nutritional status of families and reduced infant mortality, school absenteeism and child labor. In the future, however, a broader approach to the concept of family will be necessary. The current policy framework views the family as falling within specific demographic categories or age groups, not as an integrated unit.
Social protection programs should instead strengthen the capacity of families to act as natural shock absorbers against economic and social shocks. This objective can be achieved through policies that promote solidarity between generations. Studies show that family ties contribute to economic resilience.
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