Key messages:
• The Government of Jordan is committed to expanding and improving social protection as a key component of the sustainable development agenda.
• Older women and men in Jordan face increasing challenges to meet their income needs, given their reduced ability to work and limited and inadequate pensions.
• The Jordanian pension system has a limited coverage, with only 42.2 per cent of Jordanians benefiting from an old-age pension.
• Women are particularly penalised in the current system, as female labour market participation in Jordan is the third lowest globally – only 16 per cent of pensioners in Jordan are women.
• A social pension would complement the existing compulsory social security resulting in a system that would provide social protection in old age for all.
• A social pension, if extended to non-Jordanians, could become an important mechanism to provide effective, transparent and sustainable support to Syrian refugees and their families.