Universal basic income (UBI) is discussed in many countries. This article gives an overview of national and regional debates.

Australia Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada Czech Republic Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland India Iran Iraq Ireland Japan Macau Namibia Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Slovakia South Korea Spain Switzerland United Kingdom United States

Africa

Kenya Starting from November 2017, the UBI initiative run by the GiveDirectly non-profit has been implemented in a disadvantaged village of Kenya, it was set to run for 12 years.

Namibia

From January 2008 to December 2009, a pilot project with basic income grant was implemented in the Namibian villages of Otjievero and Omitara. The project was organized by the Namibian Basic Income Grant Coalition. It was mainly funded by a German Protestant church, by individual contributions of German and Namibian citizens and by contributions of the German Ministry for Cooperation. The amount paid out per head was N$100 (8% of the average income, around US$12).

After the launch, the project was found to have significantly reduced child malnutrition and increased school attendance. It was also found to have increased the community's income significantly above the actual amount from the grants as it allowed citizens to partake in more productive economic activities. The project team stated that this increase in economic activity contradicts critics' claims that a basic income would lead to laziness and dependence. After the conclusion of the pilot project phase, a monthly bridging-allowance of N$80 (around US$10) was paid regularly to all who participated in the pilot until March 2012.

One of the conclusions of the project was that, even with the restriction that only residents of the village for over a year since the pilot's start could benefit from the grant, there was a significant migration towards Otjivero-Omitara, despite the fact that the migrants would not receive the grant. The project concluded that this phenomenon reveals the need to introduce such basic-income systems as a universal national grant, in order to avoid migration to particular regions, towns or households.

Another finding of the project was that after the introduction of the pilot, overall crime rates fell by 42%, specifically stock theft, which fell by 43% and other theft by nearly 20%. These conclusions are derived from two empirical studies conducted by the Basic Income Grant Coalition. One study that covers the first 6 months of the projectHaarmann, C., D. Haarmann, H. Jauch, H. Shindondola-Mote, N. Nattrass, M. Samson, G. Standing, Towards a Basic Income Grant for All, Assessment Report, September 2008, Windhoek: BIG Coalition and a second study about the first 12 months of the project.Haarmann, C., D. Harrmann, H. Jauch, H. Shindondola-Mote, N. Nattrass, I. van Niekerk, M. Samson, Making the Difference! -- Assessment Report, April 2009, Windhoek: BIG Coalition No further empirical studies or project assessments have been published. However, there is no public access to the project database. Something the project representatives confirmed in Namibian press, including a justification of it."The Otjivero residents were promised confidentiality of their personal information.", New Era, 15 July 2011.

In May 2012, the community leader of Otjivero-Omitara, Ernst Gariseb, told a journalist of a Namibian newspaper: "Since two decades we are sitting here without work, development and perspectives." The journalist concluded: "Despite the support of the BIG there is not any development to be seen in Otjivero."Both quotations from Allgemeine Zeitung, 7 May 2012.

South Africa

According to Jeremy Seekings of the University of Cape Town, basic income activists have managed to keep the proposal alive in the South African debate ever since the 1990s, but the proposals have nonetheless not gained a lot of support within the policy-making and political elite. Nor has the idea gained a lot of public support. As he sees it, both the elite and the public remain opposed to the extension of social grants to working-age adults. He also argues that the basic income activism is a rather intellectual enterprise, done by only a few, who are lacking strong organisational or popular bases.Basic Income Activism in South Africa, 1997–2019 Researchgate.net (abstract) But on the other hand, the COVID-19-pandemic (of 2020 and 2021) has forced the government to act, to go some steps in the direction of basic income:

Quasi-basic income during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Minister for Social Development Lindiwe Zulu, announced in April 2020 that the government were about to pay out a basic income grant because of the pandemic. Not to everyone, but to everyone of working age that do not receive any other economic help from the government. The grant, R350 per month, started to be paid out in May and ended in October 2020. In October, just before the grant was ending, SA Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande called on the government to convert the grant into a "universal basic income guarantee". He argued the grant was offering a survival lifeline to millions.Unathi Nkanjeni 'Frustration and much-needed relief': How Sassa's R350 Covid-19 grant dominated 2020 Times Live. 29 December 2020. Mary Burton, writing an opinion piece for Business Day in September 2020, also argues for the government to introduce a real basic income. She writes:Burton, Mary Why all South Africans should back a basic income grant Business Day. 13 September 2020.This is not at all the same thing as the temporary "Covid-19 grant" recently introduced to address the situation of unemployed people between the ages of 18 and 59. The difficulties experienced by the department of social development in administering this grant have shown how complex that system is, where checks have to be carried out as to whether the applicants meet all the necessary criteria to qualify for it. Nevertheless, it has brought vital help to millions of people, and has provided useful lessons both in terms of administration and as an illustration of its benefit.Zulu, however, is also pushing for a real basic income. She is hoping that it can be introduced in March 2021, but for that to happen the Finance Ministry of South Africa must also be on board with the plan.South Africa will not introduce basic income before March... Reuters. July 2020

Political parties in favour of (a real) basic income:

The Democratic Alliance

Asia East Asia Japan

In Japan, New Party Nippon included a basic income proposal in their manifesto in 2009 (the party dissolved in 2015). Of the currently active and registered political parties in Japan, the Greens Japan support a universal basic income,Japan party that endorses basic income has a new political platform as do Reiwa Shinsengumi whenever inflation is below 2%. A number of economists in Japan also support UBI, such as Toru Yamamori and Kaori Katada. Kaori Katada, "Le revenu de base doit être promu par les citoyens ordinaires".

Macau

Macau has distributed funds to all residents, permanent and non-permanent, since 2008, as part of the region's Wealth Partaking Scheme. In 2014, the government distributed 9,000 patacas (approx. US$1,127) to each permanent resident, and 5,400 patacas ($676) to non-permanent residents.

South Korea In South Korea the Youth Allowance Program was started in 2016 in the City of Seongnam, which would give all 24-year-old citizens 250,000 won (~US$215) every quarter in the form of a "local currency" that could only be used in local businesses. This program was later expanded to the entire Province of Gyeonggi in 2018. The Socialist Party supported basic income, along with delegate Geum Min in South Korea. The Basic Income Party was founded in January 2020.

South Asia India

Two basic income pilot projects have been underway in India since January 2011 in partnership with UNICEF, British researcher Guy Standing and Indian activist Renana Jhabvala, providing 200 rupees per month per adult and 100 rupees per child.India: Basic Income Pilot Projects are underway , Basic Income News, 14 September According to the first communication of the pilot projects, positive results have been found."INDIA: Basic Income Pilot Project Finds Positive Results," Basic Income News, BIEN (22 September 2012). Villages spent more on food and healthcare, children's school performance improved in 68 percent of families, time spent in school nearly tripled, personal savings tripled, and new business startups doubled.

West Asia (Middle East)

Israel In 2018, Israel's non-profit GoodDollar started building a global economic framework for universal, sustainable, and scalable universal basic income using blockchain technology. The project raised $1 million from eToro and involved a peer-to-peer money transfer network based on universal basic income to provide money to those most in need worldwide.

Iran

Iran was the first country to introduce a national basic income in Autumn 2010. It is paid to all citizens and replaces the subsidies of petrol, fuel, and other supplies that the country had for decades in order to reduce inequality and poverty. In 2010, the sum corresponded to about 40 U.S. dollars per person per month, 480 U.S. dollars per year for a single individual, which could reach to $2300 per year for a family of five.USBIG NEWSLETTER Vol. 13, no. 64 Spring 2012 (Read 2 December 2012)

The initial public and political reaction to the program was negative. Local press claimed that the poor were abandoning their jobs due to the extra money, and the Government has considered introducing means testing to reduce the costs of the program.Hamid Tabatabai, IRAN : Basic Income Might Become Means Tested

A first assessment of the experiences in Iran was provided in 2011 by H. Talabani.The Basic Income Road to Reforming Iran's Price Subsidies, in: Basic Income Studies vol. 6, #1. Another assessment published in 2017 found no evidence that cash transfers recipients reduced their participation in the labor force.

Europe

Belgium Historically in Belgium, the most active group promoting basic income is the movement Vivant and the philosopher Philippe Van Parijs, who founded the Basic Income European network (BIEN) in 1987. A Belgian basic income network affiliated to the BIEN was founded in 2012 in Brussels.

Bulgaria In December 2014, one year after the European basic income initiative, Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy, a new party, was created. Besides direct democracy the party also included basic income in its program.Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy in Bulgarian language.

Czech Republic The first bigger discussion on universal basic income in the Czech Republic was initiated by philosophers and social scientists Marek Hrubec and Martin Brabec. Later, they published with Philippe Van Parijs a book "Všeobecný základní příjem. Právo na lenost, nebo na přežití?" ("Universal Basic Income. Right to Laziness, or Right to Survival?"). In 2013, activists and social scientists joined the European Citizens' Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income, and have created a campaign to support unconditional basic income. In the Czech Republic, unconditional basic income is supported by many individuals, NGOs (Alternativa zdola, ProAlt, Levá perspektiva, for example), and political parties. It is the program of the Green Party, the Communist Party, the Pirate Party, and the Party of Democratic Socialism. It is also supported by many Social Democrats.

Finland In the 1970s, Finnish researchers were inspired by Milton Friedman's proposal for a negative income tax.

In 1994, Osmo Soininvaara wrote a book advocating basic income.Osmo Soininvaara, "Hyvinvointivaltion eloonjäämisoppi" (A survival doctrine for the welfare state), Juva, WSOY, 1994, 298 p, The Young Finns advocated basic income in the 1990s.