Life stages in Somalia

Age-related support in Somalia is organized through separate public, community, family, development and humanitarian systems rather than through one universal life-stage service. The Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member State authorities share responsibilities, while district offices, health facilities, schools, NGOs and international partners often deliver services locally. Access, eligibility, cost and duration can therefore differ between states, districts and projects. Somalia has no proven nationwide system that automatically records every transition into adulthood, education, work, care or older age. Children are generally treated as under 18 in available labour-law materials. Birth registration is handled through the Civil Registration Authority and the Ministry of Interior, local registry offices, health facilities and recognized informants such as a midwife or parent. UNICEF data describe registration within 15 to 30 days; registration during the first year is free, while later registration may involve a nominal fee. Children up to age 15 can use local late-registration procedures, while older applicants may undergo age assessment. A birth certificate can support access to identification, citizenship evidence, school admission, health services and protection from child labour, early marriage and recruitment. The 2020 Somalia Health and Demographic Survey recorded registration for fewer than 3% of children under five and birth certificates for about 0.3%. Digital civil registration expanded from 19 to 48 districts between 2023 and 2025, but significant older cases remain unresolved and access is not uniform. Education may involve formal schools, Alternative Basic Education, Temporary Learning Centres or Teaching at the Right Level programmes. Alternative Basic Education uses an accelerated curriculum and can help some learners enter formal schooling. There is no nationally guaranteed school place or single nationwide fee schedule supported by the available evidence. Materials, meals and scholarships depend on the district, programme and funding partner. Reports indicate severe exclusion: about 45% of children aged 6 to 13 have never attended school, while current indicators place roughly 65% of primary-age and 75% of secondary-age children outside school. Displaced children, rural communities and children with disabilities face particularly high barriers. Somalia's National Youth Policy 2023–2030 defines youth as people aged 15 to 35. The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports and ministries in the Federal Member States support policy areas including employment, innovation, entrepreneurship, education, skills, training, leadership, participation, peace, protection, health, climate, migration, diaspora engagement and social cohesion. In practice, young people may use formal or informal education, technical and vocational training, apprenticeships, enterprise programmes, youth organizations, councils or peacebuilding initiatives. Eligibility, fees and duration depend on the individual programme, state and partner. No universal youth payment or uniform national transition procedure has been established. Adult transitions commonly lead from school or skills programmes into apprenticeships, informal work, enterprises or formal employment. Labour Code No. 36 is officially listed, while a revised Labour Code has also been documented as a draft under parliamentary consideration. Its provisions address employment contracts, apprenticeships, wages, worker protection, disability non-discrimination and child work. The status of each rule should be checked before relying on it for a specific employment decision. The available evidence does not establish a general unemployment insurance scheme or contributory social insurance covering the whole population. Marriage and parenthood mainly belong to family-related services; within life-stage support, they matter as changes in care, income and household responsibility. Support for older people is mainly provided by families and communities, with assistance from NGOs and humanitarian programmes. Somalia's National Strategy for Ageing and the Older Persons’ Act 2024 are being developed and led by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The strategy addresses social protection and financial security, health, social care, abuse and neglect, data and coordination. It proposes home care, caregiver support, day centres, nursing homes and services for displaced older people, but no nationwide long-term-care system or universal old-age benefit is established. A 2020 United Nations estimate counted about 724,000 older people, or 4.5% of the population, with a projection of about four million, or 7.75%, by 2070. The 2024 Civil Service Pension and Retirement Law concerns public servants and does not create a pension for the whole population. People who need daily care may rely on family caregivers, relatives, community support, health services, NGOs, disability-inclusive education and livelihood programmes, or child-protection case management. Somalia has no direct national equivalent of a standardized care level or universal care allowance. Poverty, disability, displacement and weak local services can make care difficult to obtain. The ageing strategy's proposed home-care, day-centre and nursing-home services are development targets rather than a uniformly available national entitlement. Armed conflict, drought, floods, disease outbreaks and displacement can interrupt education, work, family care and protection. An internally displaced person, or IDP, is someone forced to leave home but remaining within Somalia; about 3.8 million people were internally displaced at the end of 2022, and UNICEF recorded 342,221 newly displaced people in 2024. For unaccompanied and separated children, often abbreviated as UASC, assistance can include community or partner referral, child-protection case management, family tracing, reunification, kinship or alternative care, mental health and psychosocial support, child-friendly spaces, gender-based-violence response and reintegration. Humanitarian reporting recorded support for 1,825 UASC in the first half of 2025. Baxnaano is a national safety-net programme led by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with World Bank support. It targets poor and vulnerable households through the Unified Social Registry, with regular transfers of about 20 US dollars per household per month and shock-responsive payments of up to about 60 US dollars during crises. It is not a universal entitlement, and registration, targeting and access vary locally. UNICEF reported in 2024 that only about 11% of children were covered by a social-protection programme. These differences mean that a household often has to combine public registration, local services, family support and humanitarian referrals rather than rely on one continuous national pathway.