Pension recipients top nine million for first time

The number of people in Spain receiving a pension in one form or another from the state surpassed nine million at the start of this year for the first time ever, largely as a result of Spain’s ageing population.

This puts a further burden on the state’s coffers at a time when the government is striving to put the country’s financial situation on an even keel.

According to figures as of January 1, released Tuesday by the Labor Ministry, the number of people receiving a state pension climbed 1.5 percent from a year earlier to 9,008,348. The biggest increase, of 7.3 percent, was for those entitled to an orphan’s pension. The biggest financial impact came from a two-percent rise in those receiving a retirement pension, to 5,402,863.

The Social Security system posted its biggest deficit on record last year of 11.8 billion euros, around one percent of GDP, as a result of the increase in benefit payments and a drop in the number of contributors. Unemployment hit 26 percent at the end of last year, while the number of people contributing to the system declined by 4.6 percent to 16.3 million.

As a result, for the first time ever, there are fewer than two Social Security-affiliated workers for every person receiving a pension.

In January alone, outlays on contributory pensions rose 4.8 percent from a year earlier to 7.653 billion euros.