The introduction and confirmation of successive United Nations Charters and Conventions in the last half-century demonstrates the increasing acceptance of human rights as a basis for recasting development policies. Human rights have come to play a central part in discussions about economic and social development, and have been ratified by the great majority of governments in the world. This chapter traces events of recent decades in relation to the fundamental rights to social security, including social insurance, and an ‘adequate’ standard of living (Articles 22 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 9 and 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and 26 and 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child). The recent history of the OECD countries is given particular scrutiny.