At the 2018 OECD Social Policy Ministerial in Montréal, Ministers called on the OECD to help governments better incorporate citizens’ views in the policy making process, better understand both real and perceived risks people face, and better adapt social protection to risks and opportunities in a rapidly changing world. In line with these goals, the OECD launched the Risks that Matter (RTM) project in 2018, under the supervision of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSAC) and the Working Party on Social Policy (WPSP).
The OECD’s Risks that Matter Survey is the only ongoing, cross-national survey focused on assessing people’s satisfaction with their country’s social protection system and their preferences for social programmes going forward. The 2020 wave of RTM ran in 25 OECD countries during the COVID‑19 pandemic, and the 2022 wave of RTM – data from which are used in this report – was conducted in 27 countries. RTM data serve as an important foundation for the OECD’s “Future of Social Protection” programme of work, and will feature at the upcoming 2025 OECD Social Policy Ministerial,
Measurement tools like the OECD Risks that Matter Survey are increasingly important to help understand people’s views, to see where they think government can do better, and to help address the social discontent that exists in every OECD country, threatening to erode important gains in social cohesion, mobility and welfare. The findings presented in this report, as well as in other Risks that Matter research, are intended to help governments close gaps in perceptions and in lived socio‑economic realities, for the betterment of all.