Sub‐Saharan Africa is expected to face the highest population growth rates leading up to 2060, yet this region faces uncertainties concerning how to cope with this demographic boom. Social protection has been a central theme in the political economic literature on advanced democracies, but little research has focused on the current social protection systems in sub‐Saharan Africa. Using a latent profile analysis, four clusters of social protection regimes were found in the region. The clusters range from groups with strong social protection and positive welfare outcomes to a cluster with poor social protection and weak welfare outcomes.