Social Security Law in Small Jurisdictions (The World of Small States, 8) 3030782468, 9783030782467

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The World of Small States 8

Danny Pieters

Social Security Law in Small Jurisdictions

The World of Small States Volume 8

Series Editors Petra Butler, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand Caroline Morris, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

Small states differ considerably in their geography, history, political structures, legal systems and wealth. Nevertheless, because of their size, small states face a set of common challenges including vulnerability to external economic impacts such as changing trade regimes and limited ability to diversify economic activity; limited public and private sector capacity, including the legal and judicial infrastructure. A number of small states have experienced colonization and must accommodate the legacy of one or more forms of colonial law alongside the customary law of the indigenous people. Many small states are islands. These are particularly susceptible to environmental impacts such as natural disasters and climate change. Small states can also be flexible, adaptable, sites of social development and innovation, and have an influence in the world disproportionate to their size. The importance of research into small states is increasingly recognised by the global legal community . Small states are microcosms which allow us to study and gain insight into the challenges of big states. Their small size makes research easier and the testing of solutions more easily. Small states, however, also have unique problems for which unique solutions must be designed. For example, in a small state with a correspondingly-sized legal profession, ethical guidelines in regard to the appointment of judges have to take into account to the small size of the profession. The aim of this exciting and unique series is to be the essential compendium for every legal researcher interested in small states but also for practitioners and policy makers working in small state.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15142

Danny Pieters

Social Security Law in Small Jurisdictions

Danny Pieters Department of Law KU Leuven Leuven, Belgium

ISSN 2627-5996 ISSN 2627-6003 (electronic) The World of Small States ISBN 978-3-030-78246-7 ISBN 978-3-030-78247-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78247-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

This book examines the following key question: are small jurisdictions (states) confronted with specific issues/problems providing social security and how to deal with these issues/problems? How is social security law impacted by the smallness of the jurisdiction? In order to address these questions, we examine in a first chapter the key concepts of ‘small jurisdiction’ and ‘social security’ as we understand them in the current literature. Next, we pay some attention to the relation between social security and social security law and subsequently make an excursion to explore the notion of legal transplants. In a second chapter, we examine the main features that characterise small states according to the general literature on small states, naturally focusing on these features that may be relevant to social security. We also include an overview of the (limited) literature dealing with the specific social security issues small jurisdictions have to deal with. In Part II of the book, we look at the social security systems of 20 selected small jurisdictions. We do this in a uniform scheme to facilitate their comparison. In Part III, we compare the social security systems of the 20 small jurisdictions. This allows us not only to draw some conclusions about our main question but also to test the validity of the current literature on the topic as described in Chap. 2 of Part I. In the concluding part of the book, we formulate some suggestions for the benefit of the social security systems of the small jurisdictions, based on our research. The book reflects information and literature available up to May 2020. However, at the time of writing, a pandemic hit the world and made it necessary during the writing of Part II to rely primarily on information accessible on the web as well as on the assistance of people from the concerned jurisdiction. As always, a monograph is not really the book of only one person. In writing this work, I could count on the collaboration of many. For the information on the social

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security systems of the selected small jurisdictions, the collection of materials, and the help with the redaction of the country reports, we would like to express our gratitude to Leroy Adolphus, Dennis Arrindell, Cheryl Joy Augustine-Kanu, Julia Axelsson, Joelle Barnes, Antonella Benedettini, Carlos Bollen, Sieglien Burleson, Pema Choden, Colin Connelly, Daniel D’Amato, Sangay Dorjee, Milika Feaomoemanu Tuita, Marcello Forcellini, Christian Frommelt, Mahesh Gajmer, Glenda Gil, João Gabriel Gonçalves, Flora Goudappel, Joyce Grech, David Hales, Regin Djurhuus Hammer, Richard Herr, Mininnguaq Kleist, Bárður Larsen, Philip Martis, Elin Mortensen, Kirsten Olesen, Elia Panayiotis, Paul Patron, Michael Peil, Rachel Perri, Nicholas Richardson, Patricia Schiess, Shaista Shameem, Jan Sjóstein, Hassan Sobir, Hildur Sverrisdóttir Röed, Adi Talanaivini Mafi, Pem Thinley, Lisa Tomassini, Marisol Tromp, and Nicolas Vantomme, all in their respective capacities and with their respective titles. I would also like to thank for their precious help in the various stages of the research project: Gerard Everaet, Patrik Jaspers, Thijs Keersmaekers, Niel Laenen, Eric Mijts, and Elzaan Rossouw. A special word of thanks goes to our colleagues Dr. Caroline Morris, Director of the Centre for Small States at Queen Mary University London, Prof. Peter Edge of Oxford Brookes University, as well as our colleagues at KU Leuven Prof. Paul Schoukens and Prof. Bert Demarsin, as they showed interest in the project from its very start and were a great support throughout the writing of this book. Finally, I would like to mention the Institute for Comparative Law of the KU Leuven and especially its Small Jurisdictions Research Group: here I found the best environment to do this research. May many other research projects and publications on small jurisdictions follow! Leuven, Belgium Spring 2021

Danny Pieters

Contents

Part I

Small Jurisdictions and Social Security: State of the Art

1

Conceptual Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Small Jurisdictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Social Security and the Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 An Excursion: Legal Transplants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

3 3 7 8 10 13

2

Small Jurisdictions; Their Common Features, in General and as Far as Social Security Is Concerned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Economic and Environmental Shocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Scale Disadvantage and Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Limited Human Resources and Limited Infrastructure . . . . . . . 2.4 Training Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 Limited Number of People Covered by Social Security . . . . . . 2.6 Importance of Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7 Strong Ties with Other States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8 Homogeneity, Social Cohesion and Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9 Proximity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.10 Unified Administration and Fragmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.11 Financial Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.12 Legal and Social Security Transplants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 17 19 20 23 26 27 30 32 33 37 37 39 39

Part II 3

Country Studies: Social Security in Twenty Small Jurisdictions

Aruba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . .

47 47 49 vii

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3.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . . 3.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . . 3.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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49 50 52 52 52 53 55 56 57 58 58

Buthan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 4.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 4.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59 59 60 60 62 64

Curaçao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 5.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 5.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

73 73 75 75 76 77

67 67 67 68 70 70 71 71

78 78 79 80 81 81

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Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

83 84

Cyprus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 6.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 6.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

85 85 86 86 87 88

Faroe Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 7.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 7.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

95 95 97 97 97 98

Fiji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 8.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Protection Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . .

89 89 89 91 92 93 94 94

99 99 99 100 101 103 103 104 105 105 106 106 107 109 110 110

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8.3.2

Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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111 112 112 114 114 115

Gibraltar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 9.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Protection Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 9.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

117 117 118 118 119 120

Greenland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 10.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 10.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

127 127 128 128 129 129

Grenada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

137 137 138 138

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121 121 121 122 123 125 126 126

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11.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 11.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 11.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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138 140 140 140 141 142 143 144 145 146

Guyana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 12.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 12.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

147 147 148 148 148 149

Iceland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 13.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 13.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

155 155 157 157 157 158

150 150 151 152 153 154 154 154

159 159 160 161 163 165 166 167

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Liechtenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 14.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 14.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

169 169 170 170 172 174

Maldives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 15.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 15.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

185 185 186 186 186 189

Malta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 16.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 16.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

195 195 196 196 196 198

175 175 176 179 181 182 183 183

190 190 190 191 192 193 193 194

198 198 198

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16.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

18

19

xiii

. . . . .

199 200 202 203 203

San Marino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 17.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 17.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

205 205 206 206 206 208

Seychelles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 18.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 18.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 18.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

215 215 216 216 216 217

Sint Maarten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . 19.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . 19.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights .

225 225 227 227 228 229

. . . . . .

208 208 209 210 212 213 214 214

218 218 219 221 222 223 224 224

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19.3

Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 19.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

21

230 230 231 232 232 233 234 235

Suriname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 20.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 20.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 20.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

237 237 238 238 239 240

Trinidad and Tobago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 21.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 21.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 21.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

249 249 250 250 250 251

241 241 242 243 245 245 247 247

252 252 253 254 255 257 257 257

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22

xv

Tonga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.2 Legal Framework of Rights to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.2.1 Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.2.2 Social Security Legislation and Structure . . . . . . . . . . 22.2.3 Enforcement of Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . 22.3 Population and the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.3.1 General Data on the Population and Its Composition . . 22.3.2 Personal Scope of the Social Insurance and Social Assistance Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.4 Administration of Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.5 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.6 Additional Relevant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Part III

259 259 260 260 260 262 263 263 264 265 267 267 268 269

The Comparison: Facts and Recommendations

23

The Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.1 Political, Cultural and Constitutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.2 Conservatism and Absence of Originality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.3 Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.4 Personal Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.5 Remoteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.6 Immigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.7 Emigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.8 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.9 Re-migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.10 Remittances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.11 Health Care Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.12 Integrity Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.13 Economic and Environmental Shocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

273 273 274 275 276 277 278 280 281 282 283 283 284 285 288 288

24

Twenty-One Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.1 Define the Goals That Are Pursued by Social Security . . . . . 24.2 Make Social Security Address Your Own Reality of Today . . 24.3 Listen to Advice, But Take Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.4 Consider Social Security as a Whole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.5 Reflect on the Personal Scope of the Social Security Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.6 Take Care of the Democratic Consistency of Social Security . 24.7 Deal in a Fair Way with Frontier and Seasonal Workers . . . .

. . . . .

289 290 291 293 295

. . .

296 297 299

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24.8

Reconsider Advantages of Expats and Foreigners; Co-involve Tourists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.9 Pursue a Coherent Vision on the Social (Security) Responsibility Towards Emigrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.10 Unify the Political Responsibility for Social Security . . . . . . . 24.11 Overcome the Geographical, Linguistic and Digital Literacy Remoteness Between Social Security and the Persons It Protects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.12 Provide the People Designing and Managing Social Security with the Right Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.13 Reconsider the Amount and the Processes of Means Testing . . 24.14 Develop the Legal Framework of Social Assistance . . . . . . . . 24.15 Pay Attention Not Creating Expectations that Cannot Be Upheld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.16 Take a Multifaceted View on Investment Policy . . . . . . . . . . . 24.17 Take Integrity Issues Seriously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.18 Make Suitable Coordination Agreements with Main Migration Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.19 Regulate Health Care Abroad and Avoid Inverse Redistribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.20 Make Social Security Aware of Remittances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.21 Make Social Security Prepared to Absorb Temporarily Contained Economic and Environmental Shocks . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

300 302 304

305 307 309 310 311 312 314 315 318 320 321 322 323

Part I

Small Jurisdictions and Social Security: State of the Art

In this part, we first examine the key concepts ‘small jurisdiction’ and ‘social security’ as we understand them. Next, we pay some attention to the relation between social security and social security law and subsequently make an excursion to explore the notion of legal transplants. In a second chapter a state of the art of the literature on small jurisdictions is provided, focusing on the features most relevant to social security, such as: the impact of economic and environmental shocks; scale disadvantages and flexibility; the limited human resources and infrastructure; the training needs; the limited number of people covered by social security; the importance of migration; and the strong ties with other states. Issues related to homogeneity and proximity, to the unity of administration and the lack thereof in the benefit schemes, and financial issues will be discussed. In this chapter, we also give an overview of the existing literature dealing with the common features of small jurisdictions, focusing on the features relevant to social security. As such, this part gives a status quaestionis concerning our central theme: are small jurisdictions confronted with specific issues or problems when dealing with social security?

Chapter 1

Conceptual Framework

1.1

Small Jurisdictions

We will examine the social security systems of small jurisdictions. Our understanding of jurisdictions includes states as well as semi-sovereign entities that enjoy full autonomy as far as social security is concerned. As such, our study will complement the emerging literature on small states/small jurisdictions.1 Various authors have deplored that scientific interest in small states has been limited in the past; an evolution that, as a consequence of the competitive, career and economic pressures on the scientific world, seems to rather worsen than ameliorate.2 Nevertheless, it is interesting to study small states, not only for the sake of these states, but also because they can be perceived as laboratories, the results of which can also be relevant for larger countries.3 Bogdan wrote in this respect: Among the many interesting research problems of a general nature found within the area of comparative law, two complex issues are particularly fascinating . . .: the problem of mixed (hybrid) legal systems and the problem of the so-called “small jurisdictions”.4

But how do we define ‘small jurisdictions’ as a category? Simply put: small jurisdictions are jurisdictions that are small. They consist of states, i.e. politically and legally speaking sovereign countries. In this way, sovereignty can be used as a blunt criterion, as could be the membership of the United Nations. For many purposes more or less independent territories (such as the British) or confederated or federated entities with elements of sovereignty may present

1 Unless otherwise mentioned, we shall use the terms small state and small jurisdiction in an interchangeable way. 2 Kirt and Waschkuhn (2001); Wolf (2016), p. 1. 3 Wolf (2016), p. vi (nr. 35) and p. 2. 4 Bogdan (1989), as quoted by Donlan et al. (2017), p. 191.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 D. Pieters, Social Security Law in Small Jurisdictions, The World of Small States 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78247-4_1

3

4

1 Conceptual Framework

similar features for concrete legal research.5 In our research, we decided to include in our study the small states, members of the United Nations Organisation, with some territories enjoying partial independence and full autonomy in the area of interest to us, social security. The other element to be defined is ‘small’. Small states are not characterised by having fewer tasks to fulfil than larger states, but they are different on the basis of specific qualitative or quantitative criteria. The criteria chosen to identify small states will depend on the context.6 For instance, in economics, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) may be a useful criterion. Nevertheless, the World Bank prefers the criterion of population size. A general abstract definition of ‘the small state’ is thus not present.7 Criteria most used to define a small state are the superficies of the territory and the number of the population.8 These criteria not only appear most pragmatic, but are also appropriate, as the specificity of the concerned states often depends on their limited human resources and, although to a lesser extent, the limited space they cover. Sometimes one will even distinguish between small states and very small states or microstates, although that distinction is often disputed.9 In general, small states are thus usually defined by their population of up to 1½ million people, a criterion first used by the Commonwealth and then adopted by the World Bank (although not as a formal category).10 We shall follow this approach, as we find that the number of inhabitants of the state is indeed the most relevant factor as far as social security is concerned. Whatever definition is used of small states, it is clear that there is a high degree of variability among these states. Small states are spread across five continents. Jeanne Hey (2003) groups the small states into three groups: the insular microstates of the Caribbean, the Pacific and along the African coast; the European small and microstates; and African states and former colonies. Many small states belong to a category that has a “high vulnerability”, i.e. being among the poorest countries in the world. Very often, literature on small states and on developing countries tends to coincide, although there are clearly many small states that are more developed. In fact, some small countries are among the richest in the world, as defined by GDP per capita. From a research standpoint, yet another distinction can be made between the small states: between the Anglophone small states, which are more frequently the 5

Wolf (2016), p. 3. Ibid. 7 Maass (2009), p. 75. 8 Ibidem. 9 Geser (2001), p. 92; Gstöhl (2001), pp. 123–124; Wolf (2016), p. 4. 10 One has to be cautious when browsing literature, as sometimes also countries like Belgium, Norway etc. are called ‘small countries’, see e.g. Katzenstein’s comparative study Small states in world markets explaining why, during the 1980s, standards of living were higher in the ‘smallest’ European states. With ‘small states’ he meant countries like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, none of which qualify as a ‘small state’ as we understand it (Irving 2011, p. 230). 6

1.1 Small Jurisdictions

5

subject of comparative research, and the small states using other languages, such as Dutch or Portuguese.11 Small jurisdictions are many and diverse; over sixty small jurisdictions can be found all over the world. Given the above variety of small jurisdictions, we selected the following twenty as a representative sample: in Europe, the states Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Malta and San Marino, and the semi-independent territories Gibraltar, Faroe Islands and Greenland; in South America: Suriname and Guyana; in the Caribbean: the states Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, and the countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Curaçao, Aruba and Sint-Maarten; in the Pacific the states Fiji and Tonga; in Asia: Bhutan and the Maldives; and in Africa: the Seychelles. We have a combination of member states of the UNO and of territories with a link to Britain, The Netherlands and Denmark. We have small countries with a population above half a million (Cyprus, Suriname, Guyana, Fiji, Bhutan and the Maldives) and microstates (or territories with 100,000 or less population (San Marino, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, Greenland, Aruba, Sint Maarten, Tonga and Seychelles). Two thirds are small island states. Some of the small states have a large territories (e.g. Greenland), while others are very small (such as Gibraltar or Aruba). Some states have a very high GDP per capita, such as Liechtenstein and Iceland (world top 10) or a low GDP per capita such as Guyana or Tonga. Some of the small states listed have very low poverty rates, such as Liechtenstein, while the percentage of the population in poverty is high in others, such as Suriname or Fiji. Some of the selected small jurisdictions can be considered common law countries, other civil law countries or even belonging to other hybrid legal systems. We realise that we have chosen about one third of the small jurisdictions of the world and that others would make other choices, but we believe that our selection makes sense as it tries to reflect a wide diversity. The following scheme is intended only to give an idea of the diversity of the twenty selected countries; the figures are not suitable for genuine comparison as they are taken from a various sources at various points in time.

11

Veenendaal and Wolf (2016).

6

Liechtenstein (LI) Malta (MT) Iceland (IS) Cyprus (CY) San Marino (SM) Gibraltar (GI) Faroe Islands (FO) Greenland (GL) Suriname (SR) Guyana (GY) Trinidad and Tobago (TT) Granada (GD) Aruba (AW) Curaçao (CW) Sint Maarten (SX) Fiji (FJ) Tonga (TO) Bhutan (BT) Maldives (MV) Seychelles (SC)

1 Conceptual Framework

Region of the world Europe Europe Europe Europe

Pop. (* by 100,000)a 0.4

GDP per cap. Int $b 139

Poverty % pop living below national poverty linec NA

% of pop. Daily Income