(VOVWORLD) - For the first time, more than half of the global population (52.4 %) has some form of social protection coverage, up from 42.8% in 2015, the year when the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted, the UN said on Thursday.
 Commuters move out of a subway station in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Kyodo/VNA
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“While this is welcome progress, the unvarnished reality is that 3.8 billion people are still entirely unprotected,” the ILO said, highlighting that more than 76% of the world’s children still have no effective social protection coverage.
The ILO warned that “the pace to close the protection gaps is too slow”. “If progress were to continue at this rate at the global level, it would take another 49 years – until 2073 – for everyone to be covered by at least one social protection benefit,” the report cautioned.
"Climate change does not recognize borders, and we cannot build a wall to keep the crisis out. The climate crisis affects us all and represents the single, gravest, threat to social justice today,” said Gilbert Houngbo, ILO Director-General.
He added that many of the countries experiencing the most brutal consequences of this crisis are particularly ill-equipped to handle its environmental and livelihood consequences.