There are several definitions given of social assistance. All include the following concepts/notions:

• Social assistance describes non-contributory transfers.
• These transfers are targeted to the poor/vulnerable part of the population.
• The transfers may either be regular or occasional and may either be flat or can vary depending on the beneficiary's resources
• There are two types of social assistance programmes:
  - Transfer programs: in cash (such as child allowances) or in kind (such as food or housing subsidies)
  - Social services (for example by providing jobs in an emergency situation through a public works program

 » Safety nets, targeted social assistance, means-tested social transfers, targeted income support to the poor, social assistance non-contributory income support programs for the poor, are used as synonymous of social assistance

 » Social assistance is to be found in virtually all industrialized countries, where it serves for the majority of the countries as to plug some of the gaps left by other social protection mechanisms. In many European countries, it is a residual tool within social protection considered as an instrument of last resort, contrary to the United Kingdom and the United States where it represents a big fraction of Social Protection.

 » In developing countries, social assistance is much less widespread. Where it exists, it is usually restricted to just one or two categories of the population, such as the elderly.