of social security approved since 1919 by conventions and recommendations of the International Labor Organization—ILO—through the tripartite vote of representatives of workers, employers, and states at the International Labor Conference(see Mesa-Lago 2008). Each aspect/principle will contrast the promises made by reformers(or the lack of pronouncement on any principle) with the reality of reliable statistics from the nine countries 11 and from more than 200 bibliographic sources. Also, whenever possible, the performance of public systems in all six aspects will be compared to the performance of private systems. According to their degree of social development, the nine countries are divided into three groups—from highest to lowest: 1) the most developed(Uruguay, Chile, and Costa Rica), intermediate developed(Panama and Mexico), and less developed(Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Peru). 12 This classi­fication will be useful to explain key problems, i.e., the difficulty in extending EAP coverage. 1. EAP AND OLDER-ADULT COVERAGE a. Promises of the Structural Reforms EAP coverage will increase:“Increasing coverage has been presented as a core objective of the multi-pillar model[private system or pillar]... Economic theory would predict that, by reducing both the actual and the perceived tax on labor[in the old public system], by establishing individual retirement 11 Many of the statistics used herein are those published every six months by the Asociación Internacional de Organismos de Supervisión de Fondos de Pensiones(International Association of Pension Fund Supervisory Agencies: AIOS, 1999-2020), a source that cannot be claimed opposes such private funds. In this monograph, the Bulletin published on December 31 in each year is systematically used—the latest is from 2019. Information in this monograph is updated as of October 15, 2020. 12 The ranking of the nine countries by their level of development is based on the Human Development Index(UNDP, 2018). 37