The widow's pension in Spain is around 850 euros and the Basque Country is where the highest are charged

The Government has increased spending on this type of pension by more than 20% since 2019, to almost 30,000 million in 2023

MADRID, 9 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The contributive widow's pension stands at an average of 850 euros per month, with more than 2,354 million people who receive this help, and the Basque Country is the community where the highest is received, with an average of about 1,031 euros, as detailed by the Government in a parliamentary response registered in Congress to which Europa Press has had access.

And it is that, before the questions of several deputies of the PSOE on the expense in pensions of widowhood, the Executive has offered broken down the data by autonomous communities as of January 1 of this year and also based on its percentage.

The widow's contributory pension is 52% of the deceased person's regulatory base, although this percentage can increase up to 60% if the beneficiary is not entitled to a public pension and does not receive income from work and if receives other returns in an amount greater than the limits required to access the minimum pension.

Likewise, the percentage can rise to 70% of the regulatory base when the pensioner has dependent family members, if this pension constitutes the main source of income or if the pensioner's annual income does not exceed 18,877.6 euros.

In this way, the averages between autonomous communities range between 716.9 euros in Galicia and 1,031 euros in the Basque Country. On the verge of 1,000 euros is Madrid, whose average stands at 970.84 euros; and Asturias, with 969.37 euros.

If the different percentages for collecting this pension are observed, it is the Basque Country that leads the list of autonomous communities in the three models, especially in the 60% benefit, where the Basque Country stands at an average of 1,230.26 euros, per ahead of Madrid (1,162.24 euros) and Cantabria (1,136.81 euros).

In terms of gender, there are more than 2.15 million women who receive this pension compared to almost 200,000 men, with an average of 871.4 euros and 595.6 euros, respectively. On the other hand, Andalusia is the one that registers the greatest number of widow's pensions, with a total of 392,931; followed by Catalonia, with 391,416 and the Community of Madrid, with 272,790.

The Executive has also offered data on the evolution of public spending on this type of pension, where it has revealed that spending has increased by more than 20% since 2019, when spending stood at 23,516.55 euros; up to the estimated expenditure in the 2023 Budgets, where 28,393.66 million euros are estimated.

In addition, within the framework of the recent pension reform endorsed by Congress, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations reached an agreement with EH Bildu to increase the minimum widow's pensions and equate them with the contributory retirement pensions.

Specifically, these pensions will increase in 2024 from 40 euros per month for individual pensions, to 126 euros more per month for widows with charges. The increase, as explained by Bildu, will be between 1,775 and 3,800 euros for four years. In percentage terms, it represents an increase of 17% for individual ones and 30% for charge ones.