The Kingdom of Bahrain is committed to helping its citizens lead better lives and supports many different segments of society, including the elderly, orphans, widows, and needy families.
In line with the royal directives, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Government provided government support services with an effort to support its citizens through meat subsidies compensation, as well as government subsidies for electricity and water.
In order to facilitate and ease the access of eligible citizens to subsidies, the Ministry of Social Development and the Electricity and Water Authority, in cooperation with the Information & eGovernment Authority, launched the Government Subsidies portal.
The portal allows eligible citizens to submit a request for compensation subsidies on meat, with the ability to update their personal details, in addition to calculating the amount of entitled compensation according to the number of family members, and enquiring about their entitlement to government subsidies for electricity and water.
The portal is in a constant state of improvement in line with the digital transformation plan, by using the latest technologies to improve and enhance the users' experience facilitating their registration to benefit from the financial support services.
The Bahraini family is the foundation the Kingdom’s prosperity is built on, and so ensuring the family’s quality of life and sustainability is vital to the Bahraini economy.
The Government of Bahrain established a Social Security Fund to finance a Social Assistance Programme under the custody of the Ministry of Social Development to assist disabled individuals, the elderly, and less-privileged families. The Ministry’s objective is to implement the government’s plan to invest in its citizens, maintain a safe and sustainable society, implement social protection, and ensure stability for Bahraini families through social institutions.
The Government provides care and support to families through the following social institutions and programmes:
Through royal patronage and community partnerships, the Royal Humanitarian Foundation (RHF) supports charity works and developmental and humanitarian projects that strengthen social solidarity within the Kingdom of Bahrain and abroad. It develops national strategies and initiatives dedicated to vulnerable groups and enables their access and inclusion in Bahraini digital society.
Since its establishment, the RHF has provided comprehensive financial, psychological, and social care for its target groups, including more than 10,000 orphans and widows who have been provided with subsidies, scholarships, healthcare, and humanitarian assistance. This is in addition to human services, social security, assistance with living costs, medical help, and assistance with marriage.
These initiatives contribute to SDG 10's objective of reducing inequalities by providing essential support and assistance to those in need, ensuring that vulnerable individuals are not left behind.
They also align with SDG 17's objective of strengthening global partnerships for sustainable development through collaboration between the government, NGOs, and other stakeholders to achieve common goals.
Institutional Duties:
The Kingdom of Bahrain’s government established the Supreme Council for Women in August 2001 as an initiative to empower and support Bahraini women in various fields. The council works on developing and monitoring factors that affect the integration of women within the Bahraini society. It provides a wide range of services, including training programs, capacity building, awareness programs, economic empowerment, political empowerment, legal services, counseling, and family guidance services for women in need.
The Kingdom of Bahrain believes that everyone has the right to safe, decent and affordable housing.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning provides a range of social housing options and housing eServices to eligible people with limited incomes who meet certain terms and conditions. It has established several major towns and continues to build housing units throughout the Kingdom which meet the aspirations of citizens.
For more information about the available programmes and financing schemes, please visit the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.
The Kingdom of Bahrain provides free healthcare to citizens throughout their lives. The Ministry of Health provides a range of medical services for the elderly through mobile units, which include home visits for those unable to visit health centres. The Ministry of Social Development provides social services for the elderly, which include but are not limited to, daycare services, residential care services, and social assistance. Many rehabilitation centres have also been established to help people with disabilities, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health.
The Kingdom provides vaccinations to children through an Expanded Immunisation Programme, in addition to conducting health awareness campaigns for schools and universities in cooperation with the Ministry of Health.
In addition, there are dedicated mothers’ and children’s units in every hospital, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”.
These efforts align with SDG 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all.
A cornerstone of the Kingdom’s health programme, the government operates under the assumption that maternal and child health, including reproductive health, is foundational to the creation of an advanced and thriving society.
Preventive healthcare is provided by the Ministry of Health for all mothers and their children, before and after birth, with dedicated child and maternity care units available in each and every government health centers. These efforts are in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 3: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”.
All segments of society deserve a chance to share in the prosperity of the Kingdom and live happy lives. The Ministry of Social Development provides a range of services to targeted and vulnerable groups, such as:
And many others, for more information, please visit the Ministry of Social Development.
In line with Bahrain's commitment to providing a decent life for all, social insurance is mandatory by law in the Kingdom for all working Bahrainis. The Social Insurance Organisation (SIO) is the official government entity responsible for managing the Social Insurance Fund and providing insurance services to all individuals covered by the Civil Service Law and the Social Insurance Law in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The SIO was established in accordance with Law No. (3) of 2008 (Arabic only) and provides social insurance coverage for individuals against the risk of old age, disability, death, work-related injuries, and unemployment in both the public and private sectors.
The Kingdom of Bahrain provides the following social services:
The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA), in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, provides the ‘Fa’el Khair’ service on the ‘Islamiyat’ app. Launched in Ramadan 2020, it allows individuals in the community to donate to people in financial debt who have been sentenced or imprisoned.
This contributes to supporting the Kingdom of Bahrain's efforts towards providing a decent life for citizens, in line with the first Sustainable Development goal (SDG1) "Eradicate hunger and poverty".
The Kingdom of Bahrain offers its citizens a range of safety nets if they should ever fall on hard times, and also provides them with the support they need to get back on their feet.
In 2007, the Government of Bahrain launched a programme to provide unemployment insurance for job seekers, as per a royal decree. Through this law, 1% is deducted from the monthly salaries of all individuals working in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in addition to 1% paid by the employer and 1% by the Government. The deductions are transferred to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, managed by the Ministry of Social Development, to provide unemployed Bahrainis with monthly financial support as well as training and skills to help them find jobs.
The Kingdom also launched a National Employment Program as part of long-term efforts to further improve the living standards of citizens, in line with Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030, and make them employees of choice. The program is designed to help Bahraini talents launch career paths in the private sector.
Through the program, businesses can take advantage of financial support to take on new local talents as partners in their development journey. Eligible enterprises will receive wage subsidy support of 70% for the first year, 50% for the second year, and 30% for the third year respectively, as per an approved and allocated cap amount.
The Ministry of Interior offers citizens who are 60 years of age and above a 50% discount on certain services, including:
Use the provided eServices immediately, effortlessly, and around the clock Go to eServices Portal.
Find information about the offered government services across different channels Browse Services Catalogue.
Content Last Updated: 03 Sep, 2023
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