Lao PDR Develops New Social Protection Strategy with ILO Guidance

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is supporting the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) as it develops a new National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) for 2026–2030, aimed at reducing poverty and inequality. The ILO conducted the final, end-term review of the NSPS 2021–2025 through the “Accelerating universal social protection for achieving the SDGs and ending poverty” project, assessing progress and providing recommendations for future improvements. The review found that Lao PDR has made steady progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), with 94.5% of the population now legally covered. Social security coverage has also gradually increased among enterprises, self-employed individuals, and agricultural workers. Vulnerable populations benefited from targeted initiatives, including 109,000 maternal and child welfare beneficiaries and over 200,000 children across 41 districts receiving school meals. These achievements were supported by strong legal and policy frameworks and the establishment of multi-stakeholder Social Protection Committees at the national level and in 17 provinces. According to ILO experts, the coordination mechanism has strengthened over time, with active participation from national and provincial committees helping improve capacity in areas such as health insurance and social welfare, leading to more effective and inclusive social protection systems. Despite these gains, the review highlighted ongoing challenges, including large coverage gaps, uneven levels of protection, rising out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures, and varying service quality. Heavy reliance on donor funding has limited scalability and sustainability, while insufficient resources and a limited number of trained experts within the Secretariat remain bottlenecks to fully institutionalizing social protection. The review process, initiated in September 2025, included interviews with government stakeholders and international partners, focus group discussions with beneficiaries, data analysis, and validation workshops. The NSPS implementation roadmap and monitoring indicators were updated as part of this process, with the final report expected in mid-2026. Looking ahead, sustained progress will require integrating funding and implementation into national structures. Recent advancements include efforts to strengthen informal sector participation in social security and the piloting and expansion of social welfare programs. In December 2025, Lao PDR launched its first social security mobile application to modernize service delivery, introduced during the National Symposium on Social Protection under the theme “Digitalise, Transform, and Deliver in a New Era,” supported by the ILO–UNDESA Project.