In 2015, 6.2 per cent of the population of Armenia was living with a disability, according to UNICEF. In 1995 the Government of Armenia took fundamental steps toward improved income security for this important group through the drafting of a new constitution that upholds the rights of persons with disabilities.
According to the Government of Afghanistan, there are more than 840,000 persons with disabilities living in Afghanistan. With a long history of war, many of these disabilities are the result of war related injury. In order to provide access to income security for persons with war related disabilities, the Government of Afghanistan introduced the civil survivor’s and military survivor’s pensions, administered by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyred and Disabled.
The Continuous Benefit Programme, or Benefício de Prestação Continuada da Assistência Social (BPC), was launched by the Government of Brazil in 1996 in order to provide older persons and persons with disabilities with a minimum level of income security. The BPC is grounded in the 1988 Constitution and is regulated by the 1993 Organic Law for Social Assistance (LOAS).
Uruguay’s residents over the age of 65 represent approximately 14 per cent of the population. This population experienced a relatively low incidence of poverty at approximately 3 per cent in 2003. The Government of Uruguay has contributed to this low incidence of poverty through the introduction of the Non-Contributory Pension for the Elderly and Disabled, or Programa de Pensiones No Contributivas a la Vejez e Invalidez, (PNC) in 1919. This scheme provides economic support to all older and disabled persons who lack a monetary income to afford their livelihood expenses.
As of the beginning of 2017, those over the age of 65 make up approximately 11.7 per cent of the population in Cuba, and by 2050 this group is expected to grow to 27 per cent. The Government of the Republic of Cuba has a long history of social pension schemes dating back to 1963 and more recently broadened the legal framework to protect the right of older persons to income security in 2008 and 2011, thus strengthening an existing Social Security Pension Scheme (SSPS). The National Social Security Institute is responsible for the administration and management of funds that form the SSPS.
