With the merits of the survivors’benefits paid by existing social insurance schemes being called into question, it is useful to take a closer look at such benefits and their future prospects. After presenting a detailed review of the relevant aspects of various national legislations, the author describes major recent changes in customs and lifestyles, and the problems to which they have given rise as regards the derivative rights of survivors, particularly in the context of the dissolution or absence of family ties. These problems concern the equality of rights between widows and widowers, the maintenance of protection beyond the usual framework of marriage for divorced persons, and the extension of coverage to unmarried couples who live together. Next the author discusses identifiable trends with a view to discerning options for future policy, and describes reforms to survivors’benefits which have already been implemented or are currently under consideration in several countr