Combating poverty and social exclusion remain high on the policy agenda in all countries within and outside the OECD. But fostering individual and social development requires more than that. A wide range of issues from employment, trade and labour standards, health, family, gender-equity to education and population ageing needs to be addressed.

What's new

Crisis highlights the need for sweeping pension reforms, says OECD

23-Jun-2009

Governments must continue reforms to ensure that public and private retirement income provision is socially as well as financially sustainable, according to the 2009 edition of the OECD’s biennial Pensions at a Glance.

Governments must do more to help most vulnerable amid rising unemployment, urges OECD

15-May-2009

Governments must urgently adapt their labour market policies to help their most vulnerable citizens in the economic crisis, as was concluded at the High-Level Forum on Sickness, Disability and Work in May 2009. Key to this will be avoiding that the crisis further strengthens a disability benefit culture that pushes many people with disability onto benefit schemes and out of work for the rest of their lives.

Society at a Glance reveals evolving social trends in OECD countries

04-May-2009

The French spend more time sleeping than anyone else in OECD countries. They also devote more time to eating than anyone else and nearly double that of Americans, Canadians or Mexicans. These are some of the insights into the differing ways in which OECD countries use that most fundamental of resources, time, in the latest edition of Society at a Glance.

Chile should create more and better jobs to cut poverty and inequality, says OECD

06-Apr-2009

Chile should invest more in employment and active social policies in order to reduce its high levels of income inequality and poverty, according to a new OECD report.

Strategic options to finance pensions and healthcare in a rapidly ageing world

09-Feb-2009

The financial crisis  is severely testing the soundness of pension and health care systems in OECD countries and many are not passing the test. At the World Economic Forum, Secretary-General Angel Gurría urged policy makers to act.

The OECD Family database is LIVE

30-Jun-2009

Since 30 June 2009, the Family database (www.oecd.org/els/social/family/database) includes 52 indicators with cross-national information on family outcomes and policies as categorised under 4 broad headings: the structure of families, families and children, the labour market position of families, public policies for families and children, and child outcomes. If you would like to be informed when the database is updated regularly, please click here.

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