Pension spending shoots up in May to a record figure of 11,974 million, 10.7% more

The average retirement pension increases by 9.6%, up to 1,375 euros per month

Social Security allocated in the month of May the record amount of 11,974.3 million euros to the payment of contributory pensions, 10.7% more than in the same month of 2022, after its revaluation by 8.5% for this year, as reported this Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations.

Pension spending exceeded 11,000 million euros for the first time in history last January and is already close to 12,000 million. This is due to the fact that, in application of the pension reform, they have risen by 8.5% by 2023, as a result of average inflation for the period December 2021-November 2022.

The Department headed by José Luis Escrivá estimates that pension spending stood at 11.7% of GDP in the last twelve months, the same percentage as in 2022, but lower than in 2020 (12.4% of GDP). year conditioned by the impact of the pandemic on GDP, and also that of 2021 (12.1% of GDP).

Of the 11,974 million euros that were dedicated in May to the payment of contributory pensions, almost three quarters (72.8%) were allocated to the payment of retirement pensions, which totaled 8,723.1 million euros , 11.5% more than in May last year.

1,998.5 million euros were allocated to widow's pensions, 9.4% more than a year ago, while 1,058.4 million euros (7.4%) were allocated to benefits for permanent disability.

For its part, the payment of orphan's benefits entailed an amount of 162.8 million (8.7%), and that of benefits in favor of relatives totaled 31.4 million euros (11.4%).

THE RETIREMENT, MAIN PENSION FOR 6.2 MILLION PEOPLE

In May of this year, 10,019,689 contributory pensions were paid, 1% more than a year ago, for just over nine million pensioners. Of the total pensions, more than 6.34 million were retirement pensions; 2.34 million were widow's pensions; 945,050 were permanent disabled; 340,218 were orphan's pensions, and 44,872, in favor of relatives.

Of the total number of pensioners (9,074,316 as of May 1 of this year), 4.6 million are men and 4.5 million women. The number of pensions per pensioner is 1.1.

The main pension received is the retirement pension for 6.2 million people, of which 60.4% are men; widowhood is the main benefit for 1.5 million people (95.9% are women); that of permanent disability is the main pension for 940,042 pensioners; that of orphans for 322,743 people, and that of favor of relatives for 44,204 pensioners.

THE AVERAGE RETIREMENT PENSION REACHES 1,375 EUROS PER MONTH

After the rise in pensions with the CPI applied since the beginning of the year, the average retirement pension increased by 9.6% year-on-year in May, up to 1,375.2 euros per month.

In the General Scheme, the average retirement pension amounted to 1,533.6 euros per month, compared to 915.5 euros per month in the Self-Employed Scheme. In Coal Mining, the average retirement pension is 2,682.4 euros per month and in the Sea, 1,523.9 euros.

The average amount of new retirement registrations in April of this year (latest data available) amounted to 1,356.8 euros per month.

In May, the average widow's pension stood at 851.7 euros per month, with year-on-year growth of 9.4%, while the system's average pension, which includes the different types of pension (retirement, permanent disability, widowhood , orphans and in favor of relatives), increased by 9.6%, reaching 1,195.1 euros per month on May 1.

The Ministry has reported that in April (latest data available) the average resolution of the files was 11.8 days in the case of retirement pensions and 15.8 days in the case of widowhood pensions.

In this sense, the Department headed by Escrivá has recalled that, by law, the maximum resolution period is 90 days for both retirement and widowhood pensions.

PASSIVE CLASSES

On the other hand, the number of pensions belonging to passive classes in force at the end of April of this year (latest data available) was 694,412, a figure 1.8% higher than that of the same month of 2022. The monthly payroll of these pensions amounted to 1,469.5 million euros.

The State Passive Class Regime basically includes military personnel and officials of the General State Administration, the Administration of Justice, the General Courts and other constitutional or state bodies, as well as officials transferred to the autonomous communities.

MORE THAN 495,800 PENSIONERS RECEIVE SUPPLEMENT DUE TO GENDER GAP

As of May 1, 495,859 pensioners received the gender gap supplement, the objective of which is to gradually correct the difference that occurs between the average pension received by a man and that received by a woman.

The average monthly amount of this pension supplement, 91.7% received by women, is 65.9 euros. Of the 495,859 supplemented pensions, 22.6% correspond to pensioners with a child (112,070); 47.1%, with two children (233,708); 19.5%, with three (96,838), and 10.7% (53,243), with four children.

This supplement, in force since February 2021, consists of a fixed amount that, after the revaluation for 2023, amounts to 30.4 euros per month per child. The supplement is applied from the first child to a maximum of four and is requested at the same time that the pension is requested.