Spending on social benefits up by 4.1% in 2013

Total expenditure on social security benefits amounted to €814.5 million in 2013, a €31.9 million rise compared to 2012. An increase in outlay was recorded for both contributory benefits (€20.0 million) and non-contributory benefits (€11.9 million).

Last year the outlay on social security benefits made up 11.3 per cent of the GDP.

Expenditure on contributory benefits totalled €624.9 million in 2013, registering a 3.3 per cent increase over the previous year. A rise in outlay was recorded under pensions in respect of retirement (€15.2 million), due to the two-thirds pension (€23.1 million). Further expenditure increases were recorded under other benefits (€1.1 million) and pensions in respect of invalidity (€0.5 million). These were partially offset by a decline in pensions in respect of widowhood (€1.9 million).

A total of €189.5 million was spent on non-contributory benefits last year, 6.7 per cent more than 2012. This was mainly due to a higher outlay recorded under social assistance (€6.1 million) and children’s allowance (€3.4 million). An increase in expenditure was also registered under old age pension (€1.4 million), disability pension (€0.9 million) and supplementary assistance (€0.2 million). On the other hand, outlay on medical assistance declined by €0.8 million.

In the fourth quarter last year a decline in expenditure was recorded (€30.6 million). Both the outlays on contributory benefits (€21.8 million) and on non-contributory benefits (€8.8 million) decreased in comparison to the corresponding quarter in 2012. These were mainly due to decreases in expenditure for pensions in respect of retirement (€23.7 million) and children’s allowance (€5.8 million) respectively.