Spending on pensions increased in June to more than 23,600 million

The Social security granted in June a record figure of 11,997.2 million euros for the payment of regular monthly salaries pensions with contributions10.7 percent more than in the same month of 2022, as well as another 11,694.9 million euros in extraordinary salaries, which represents an increase of 11 percent compared to last year, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration reported on Tuesday.

In June of this year, 10,040,732 contributory pensions were paid, 1% more than a year ago. Additional salary is received by 10,019,750 pensioners (all except those resulting from accidents at work and occupational diseases in which they are already distributed in regular monthly payments), with an average amount of 1,167.2 euros, 9.9% more compared to last year .

Regular monthly contributory pension payments exceeded 11,000 million euros for the first time in history last January and are already close to 12,000 million. This is due to the fact that in the application of the pension reform, they increased by 8.5% to compensate for the average inflation between December 2021 and November 2022.

The department headed by José Luis Escrivado estimates that pension spending amounted to 11.7% of GDP in the last twelve months, the same percentage as in 2022, but lower than in 2020 (12.4%), the year conditioned by the impact of the pandemic, and also the one from 2021 (12.1%).

Of the EUR 11,997.2 million earmarked for regular contributory pension payments in June, almost three quarters (72.9%) were allocated for pension payments, which totaled EUR 8,740.3 million, 11.5% more than in June last year .

2,002.2 million euros were set aside for widow’s pensions, 9.4 percent more than the year before, while 1,059.8 million euros (+7.4 percent) were set aside for benefits for permanent disability.

On the other hand, compensation payments for neglected children amounted to 163.4 million (an increase of 8.8%), and compensation for the benefit of family members was 31.6 million (+11.6%).

The average old-age pension amounts to 1374.9 euros per month

After the increase in pensions with the application of the CPI since the beginning of the year, the average old-age pension in June increased by 9.6 percent year-on-year, to 1,374.9 euros per month. In the general regime, the average compensation was 1,532.7 euros, compared to 915.6 in the independent activity regime. In mining, the average pension is 2,680.7 euros per month, and in the sea, 1,523.9 euros.

The average amount of new pension applications in May this year (latest available data) was 1,352.3 euros per month.

More than half a million pensioners receive maternity allowance

As of June 1, 518,183 pensioners received the gender difference allowance, which aims to gradually correct the difference between the average pension of men and women, for which an allowance is given for each son. The average monthly amount of this pension supplement, of which 91.4 percent are received by women, is 65.8 euros. Of the 518,183 additional pensions, 22.7% belong to pensioners with children (117,572); 47.1%, with two children (244,028); 19.5%, with three (101,042) and 10.7% (55,541), with four or more children.

This supplement, which has been in effect since February 2021, consists of a fixed amount which, after the revaluation for this year, amounts to 30.4 euros per month per child.