The scope,
complexity, and costs of publicly sponsored social security and
social welfare services and programmes have increased significantly
in many parts of the world, although their scope and coverage
remain limited in most developing countries. Social welfare
concepts and practices have also been the object of considerable
debate and rethinking in recent years.
Spending on a
broadly defined category of social welfare programmes, including
social security, has increased steadily in real terms since the
late 1960s, typically at rates faster than economic growth or total
government expenditure. By the mid- 1980s, social welfare spending
by central and local government together was the equivalent of
about 14 per cent of total output in developed countries and about
6 per cent in a small sample of the developing countries, although
only 3 per cent and 1.5 per cent for Africa and South and East
Asia, respectively.
In the developed
countries, social security and welfare services are recognized as
essential elements in the social advances that have been made.
However, their rapidly rising costs have been a cause of concern
and, despite the resources they absorb, some have come under
scrutiny for their alleged inefficiencies and failure to provide
for those most in need. Expansion and increased costs are built
into most systems, although budgets are likely to continue to be
restricted by slow economic growth. Administrative complexity
pushes up delivery costs. Services are labour-intensive, and
increased professionalism and training escalate unit costs.
Increasing numbers of middle-class people use services, especially
in a period of slow growth in personal income. Changing age
structures, in particular the aging of the population, add a new
element, which will be progressively more significant. While the
increased costs associated with an aging population may be offset
by savings in maternity, child, and youth services, this change
will nonetheless require a major redirection of resources and
retraining of personnel. Partly inspired by the drive to greater
economy, but reflecting also changes in professional views as of
appropriate forms in which to provide care, institutionalization of
people who cannot support themselves is being de- emphasized in
favour of community-based and family-based support. Perhaps the
most significant trend is greater prominence for prevention and
rehabilitation, to enhance people's capacity to function
independently, effectively, and productively.
In many developing
countries, the need for social welfare services is increasing with
the spread of urbanization, migration, changing family and kinship
support systems, and greater female participation in the modern
economy. But as recession and economic decline in some areas are
placing greater demands on the typically limited capacity of
existing public systems, Governments are seeking ways to maintain
existing family support systems. Social welfare programmes are
increasingly taking on a developmental character, with an emphasis
on creating income-earning opportunities for the poor, vulnerable,
dependent, or disabled. Even limited resources can have significant
economic benefits if used for prevention, maternal and infant care,
immunization against childhood diseases, and supplementary feeding
for preschool and school- children, as well as some rural community
services. To replicate such programmes in large numbers would
require a redirection of resources from urban, often
middle-class-oriented services, with all that this
implies.
