Income Protection Policies
The WORLD Policy Analysis Center analyzed data from relevant legislation and details of social security systems drawn from the following sources as of March 2012:
If the sources mentioned above did not have recent data on minimum-wage rates, information was drawn from the U.S. Department of State’s Human Rights Reports.
All data about minimum wage policies were based on information relevant to the years 2010 and 2011.
Only family benefits provided on a statutory basis—that is, established by law—are captured; because data sources offer very limited detail on non-statutory programs (and by definition there are no legislative documents that detail them), these were not included.
Constitutional Protections for Older Adults
The WORLD Policy Analysis Center analyzed national constitutional text in force as of May 2017.
Why consider constitutions?
Governments establish human rights through national and sub-national legislation, targeted programs and policies, and national constitutions. Among these tools, constitutions fulfill several unique and important functions:
Access to Care through Adult Labor Rights & Protections
The WORLD Policy Analysis Center reviewed original labor and social security legislation, complemented and verified by information on social security systems from each UN member state and global sources to collect information about policies for adult labor. The following sources were used to gather information on this subject:
Additional information to fill in gaps from the abovementioned sources was drawn from the following:
Initial data analysis has focused on national-level law and policy. In countries where labor policies are set at the state or provincial level, such as the U.S. and India, we coded based on the lowest level of guarantee.
For details on the variables included in this category, please see WORLD global maps on Aging.
For more information about WORLD’s approach to building globally comparative databases on policies affecting human health, development, well-being, and equity, please visit our Methodology page.
Preventing Workplace Discrimination
The WORLD Policy Analysis Center reviewed original legislation and statutory protections extended to the private sector in labor codes, anti-discrimination legislation, and equal opportunity legislation, and penal codes as of May 2023 for discrimination on the basis of age and January 2021 for discrimination on the basis of other protected groups and statuses. Original, full-text, national-level legislation for all 193 United Nations member states was identified primarily using the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s NATLEX database. As an additional source for sexual harassment variables, we examined links to legislation through the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law
Initial data analysis has focused on national-level law and policy collected by the UN and other global organizations. For countries that legislate at the sub-national level and have no federal policy in place, we coded based on the lowest level of protection set at the state or provincial level. This review and analysis does not include legislative protections from discrimination that are not specific to the workplace (such as protections which may apply to public spaces or educational institutions).
For details on the variables included in this category, please see WORLD’s global maps on Labor.
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