Provident funds in the third world: A cross‐national review

Provident funds have been introduced in twenty third world countries as a way of meeting a need for social security. This article provides a careful comparative review of these funds, describing who they cover, how contribution rates are specified and on whom they fall, the rights the funds confer and how the funds are managed. The article points out that the provident funds have proved to be important financial institutions, valued by governments as instruments for mobilizing savings, but none has found a way of achieving the goal of providing adequate social security protection on the basis simply of compulsory savings.