System of social service of the population

The notion «social service» has a definite sense. For example, in Finland in the Social Service Law of 1982 it is defined as «a set of social services and supports by rendering means of subsistence, social benefits and the actions connected with them which urge to serve the strengthening of social welfare and to promote the development of an individual, a family, a community.

Social service represents the activities of social services aimed at social support, rendering of social, socio-medical, psychologico-pedagogical, socio-legal services and material aid, providing the social adaptation and rehabilitation of the citizens who are in a difficult life situation.

Social service is based on the following principles:

- Equal possibilities of citizens irrespective of their nationality, sex and age;

• Availability;

• Voluntariness;

- Assistance in social adaptation supported by an individual’s own forces;

- Addressing the priority of assistance to the citizens who are in a dangerous or helpless condition;

- Humaneness, goodwill,

- Confidentiality observance;

- Orientation to prevention;

- Legality and keeping to the international standards.

The social service is formed on the basis of legality, humanism, justice and democracy. Thus, following these uniform principles makes the system of social service complete and consecutive

The principle of the priority of the state beginnings in the organization of social service and warranting the rights of the citizens for getting social aid in complicated life situations means that the state provides the rights of a person, his sovereignty, honor and freedom, protects him from different kinds of encroachments. It provides the system of social services with necessary materials, finance, personnel means, defines the duties of establishments, controls the work of the system of social service.

The territoriality principle means that the social service is as much as possible approached to the population and consequently in the maximum degree is accessible to direct using. This principle allows to solve the problems of integration of departmental interests and possibilities for the complex solution of the problems of social service, to keep to the uniform purposes in the great variety of activities.

The institutions of social protection of the population act in close interaction with the institutions of public health services, national education, culture, physical culture and sports, law enforcement bodies, services dealing with youth affairs, employment and also with the public, religious and charitable organizations and funds.

The poverty problem

The decline of the global economy has triggered concerns that millions will be sent into poverty in China and India.

By By Jayshree Bajoria, Council On Foreign Relations

Nov 20, 2008

By year's end, the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 was starting to be felt in the developing world, with slowdowns expected in all emerging economies. These growth declines could have significant effects on the world's poorest populations. The World Bank estimates that a 1 percent decline in developing country growth rates traps an additional 20 million people in poverty. Concern centers on slowing growth in India and China, the world's two most populous nations and the largest contributors to reductions in global poverty in the last two decades, according to many academic studies. Reduced economic growth in both countries could reverse poverty alleviation efforts and even push more people into poverty, say some experts. The financial crisis has also likely made the achievement of the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) on poverty—to halve the proportion of people in extreme poverty by 2015—more difficult.

The Poverty and Hunger Challenge. With an average annual growth rate of 10 percent, China has lifted over 600 million of its 1.3 billion citizens out of extreme poverty—those who earn less than $1 a day—since 1981. In the same time period, India's 6.2 percent average annual growth rate has brought an estimated 30 million out of its 1.1 billion people out of extreme poverty. But an estimated 100 million Chinese and more than 250 million Indians remained under the extreme poverty line in 2005, according to the latest World Bank poverty estimates (PDF). Roughly 470 million Chinese and 827 million Indians earned less than $2 a day, the median poverty line for all developing countries. Though some economists say World Bank figures understate the true extent of poverty, there is broad agreement that a slowdown in China and India will harm poverty alleviation goals. The administrator of the UN Development Program (UNDP), Kemal Dervis, warned in October 2008 that together with volatile food and fuel prices, "current global economic conditions threaten the gains that have been made to reduce poverty and advance development for large numbers of people."

In the developing world as a whole, economists say that soaring food and fuel prices were already placing strain on the poor prior to the onset of the financial crisis. The UN World Food Program estimated in September 2008 that there are 850 million chronically hungry people in the world, a tally that could increase by 130 million this year (PDF). The World Bank estimates that the number of poor increased by at least 100 million as a result of the food and fuel crises. It argues that declines in food and fuel prices in late 2008 have not solved the problem. According to its November 2008 report, the poorest households were "forced to switch from more expensive to cheaper and less nutritional foodstuffs, or cut back on total caloric intake altogether, face weight loss and severe malnutrition."