For the first time, over half of people globally enjoy some form of social benefits, the UN said Thursday, but said more was needed, including to soften the impact of climate change.

In a fresh report, the United Nations's International Labour Organization said that 52.4 percent of the global population currently receives some element of what it calls social protection.

That marks a jump of nearly 10 percentage points since 2015 and the first time that over half of people in the world have at least some coverage, it said.

"While this is welcome progress, the unvarnished reality is that 3.8 billion people are still entirely unprotected," ILO said, highlighting that more than three-quarters of children globally still have no coverage.

For the ILO, social protection includes access to health care and income security measures related especially to old age, unemployment, sickness, disability, work injury, maternity or the loss of the main breadwinner in a family, as well as extra support for families with children.

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