Mauritius

Laws on family allowances, work injury, and old age, disability, and survivors were enacted in Mauritius before independence in 1968. The regulatory framework on sickness and maternity and national pensions was introduced after independence in 1975 and 1976. Most of the social assistance programmes in Mauritius preceded independence. These include the Basic Invalidity Pension and Carer’s Allowances and Guardian’s Allowance that were introduced in 1950, both with the objectives of enhancing the welfare, empowerment and integration of the population of persons with disabilities, elderly and other vulnerable groups. In 1951, the Basic Retirement Pension was introduced to provide cash transfers to the elderly, which reached 186,118 participants in 2015. The range of the monthly cash transfer amount is US$181.43 to US$1209.55. The Child Allowance was introduced in 1960 and transfers a monthly cash amount between US$86.69 and US$92.89. The latest social assistance programme introduced in 1983 was the Social Aid and Unemployment Hardship Relief that reached, as at 2012, 43,952 participants who do not have income to cover their basic needs. The government of Mauritius fully funds its social assistance programmes and as at 2014, the social assistance expenditure was 3.44 percent of GDP.