Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India has recorded a phenomenal expansion of social security coverage from 19 per cent in 2015 to 64.3 per cent in 2025. This means that 64.3 per cent of India’s population, comprising 94.3 crore people, are now covered under at least one social protection benefit. This unprecedented increase has also been acknowledged by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on its ILOSTAT database. This 45-percentage point jump over ten years marks one of the most significant expansions globally.
In terms of the number of beneficiaries, India now ranks second in the world after China in providing social protection to citizens. The Ministry of Labour and Employment is working closely with the ILO for a national social protection data pooling exercise to obtain a holistic picture of social protection coverage in India.
Under this project, encrypted Aadhaar is being used as a unique identifier across 34 major Central schemes such as MGNREGA, EPFO, ESIC, APY, and PM-POSHAN, to identify unique beneficiaries. Financial inclusion has been at the heart of India’s social security push. As of June 18, 2025, over 55.64 crore people hold Jan Dhan accounts, giving them direct access to government benefits and formal banking services.
