Catalonia was the CCAA with the largest Social Security deficit in 2021, while Madrid had the largest surplus

The Basque Country is in third position in the pension deficit, in the middle of the debate over the transfer of the management of Social Security

MADRID, 17 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Catalonia was the autonomous community that accumulated the largest deficit in Social Security pensions in 2021, with a negative balance of up to 4,370.8 million euros, while the Community of Madrid had a surplus of 1,535.8 million and It was the region that contributed the most to the 'single fund', according to the first data to prepare the fiscal balances published by the Ministry of Finance after the agreement with Junts.

Specifically, the Ministry of Finance has released territorialized data on Social Security income and expenses, broken down by type of pension. These figures show that Catalonia spent 27,085.6 million euros on paying pensions, while it earned 22,714.7 euros for this concept, accumulating a deficit of 4,370.8 million euros, according to data collected by Europa Press.

In the opposite case is the Community of Madrid, which earned a total of 22,543.2 million euros for this concept and spent 21,007.4 million euros to pay pensions during 2021, generating a surplus of 1,535.8 million of euros, the community that contributes the most to this 'common fund'.

The Community of Madrid and the Balearic Islands (165.4 million) are the only regions, along with Ceuta (14.6 million) and Melilla (22.9 million), that have a surplus in Social Security pensions in 2021, according to these data on the amounts of income and expenses in pensions by autonomous communities.

It is worth remembering that currently, the pension model in Spain is a distribution in which contributors pay the retiree subsidy through the single fund, regardless of the region in which they live.

In this context, after Catalonia, the second autonomous community that accumulates a greater deficit in Social Security pensions in the 2021 financial year is Andalusia, with a negative balance of 4,145.5 million euros between expenses and income for this concept.

And in third place is the Basque Country, since in 2021 it had a deficit of 3,568.5 million euros in Social Security pensions. Specifically, it earned a total of 7,103 million, while it paid up to 10,671.6 million euros.

The agreement between the PSOE and the PNV for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez commits to the transfer of the management of Social Security to the Basque Country within a maximum period of two years, which has once again brought to light the debate on the contributory deficit of the autonomous communities of Social Security.

Of course, this transfer to Euskadi will not compromise the single Social Security fund and the pensions of Basque citizens will continue to be paid with this model of solidarity between the different autonomous communities.

A report from the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (Fedea) believes that the single cash system favors Basque nationalists given the strong deficit that the contributory subsystem of Social Security presents in the Basque Country.

The fourth community with the largest pension deficit in 2021 was Castilla y León, up to 3,430.6 million euros. And it earned 5,298.2 million euros, while it spent a total of 8,728.9 million euros.

Galicia follows, with a deficit of 3,393.1 million, since it earned 5,937.9 million and spent 9,331 million. For its part, the sixth community with the largest negative balance was Asturias, up to 2,878.4 million euros - it earned 2,333.3 million and spent 5,211.8 million -.

The next on the list with the largest deficit is the Community of Valencia (-2,296.4 million) and is followed by Aragón (-1,243.6 million); Cantabria (-918.5 million euros); Castilla-La Mancha (-892.4 million); Extremadura (-710.6 million); Navarra (-419.5 million); Canary Islands (-315.4 million); La Rioja (-255.3 million) and Murcia (-111.7 million).