Social protection is at the heart of Kyrgyzstan's development and is a priority of public policy. Pension coverage among today's elderly is universal and a large number of contributory and non-contributory programmes are in place to cover a wide range of risks. Kyrgyzstan has succeeded in maintaining the entitlements dating from the Soviet era while introducing programmes appropriate for its transition to a market economy. However, severe fi scal constraints have limited the coverage of these new arrangements and their capacity to adapt to challenges such as poverty, pervasive informality and emigration. The Social Protection System Review of Kyrgyzstan comes at a time when imbalances and fragmentation of social protection provision are undermining its impact and jeopardising its long-term sustainability. This Review proposes a systemic approach to addressing these challenges consistent with the Government of Kyrgyzstan's own commitment to developing a coherent and extensive social protection system. It examinesthe current and future challenges facing Kyrgyzstan and analyses the capacity of existing social protectionprogrammes to confront them. It also analyses the fi nancing of social protection and the sector's currentinstitutional framework. Finally, it proposes specifi c policies for establishing a social protection system andoptimising the design of its component programmes.