Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India’s social protection coverage has increased to over one billion citizens in 2026, up from 250 million in 2015.
The new milestone was formally recognised by the ILO’s Director-General in a video message to the 12th BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting in Hyderabad recently, held under India’s BRICS Chairship 2026.
In a post on social media platform X on July 15, Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya highlighted the landmark validation of the country’s social security landscape by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
“India breaches 1 billion mark in Social Protection Coverage!” Mandaviya wrote on X, thanking ILO Director-General Gilbert F Houngbo “for acknowledging India’s efforts towards expanding social protection coverage”.
In the same post, Mandaviya laid out the scale of the shift: “Under the leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi ji, India’s social protection coverage has grown from 250 million citizens (19 per cent) in 2015 to over 1 billion citizens (68.4 per cent) in 2026, reflecting the Modi government’s commitment to Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.
The numbers mark one of the steepest expansions of social security coverage recorded anywhere, taking India from covering less than a fifth of its population a little over a decade ago, to covering more than two-thirds of it today.
India was conferred with the prestigious International Social Security Association (ISSA) Award 2025 for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Social Security’ in Malaysia in October 2025, for the expansion of social security coverage from 19 per cent in 2015 to 64.3 per cent in 2025, reaching over 940 million citizens as of last year, as noted by the ILO.
