Discrepancy of social insurance between laws and practices: Implementation challenges of maternity leave in 73 low- and middle-income countries

Although comparative welfare research has long criticized that the social insurance system in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) fails to cover the under-privileged population, very little is known about the discrepancy between social insurance legislation and its practice. In LMICs, social insurance legislation has remained only on the books for a long time, which prevents citizens from accessing their ‘entitled’ benefits. By analyzing the gap between the de jure and de facto coverage of maternity leave in 73 LMICs, this article provides the first systematic overview of the discrepancy between social insurance law and practice in different world regions. The empirical findings show that nearly a third of LMICs provide de jure universal coverage but only very few adhere to the promise. Low state capacity, prevalent corruption, and poor policy design impede the effective implementation of social insurance legislation.