The creation and development of social insurance

The authors present the notion of social insurance, which has been defined in various ways. They point to the origins of social insurance, emphasise the importance of social change and industrial progress in the 19th century, which had an impact on the development of social insurance in the entire Europe and on the creation of mutual assistance funds to support the ill, unemployed, elderly and the disabled. The authors provide an overview of the development of social insurance in 20th-century Europe and Poland.