Welcome to a Spain without state aid to households and without public pensions. It does not have 9.6 million people living on incomes below the poverty line, or 20.2% of the population, as is currently the case, but almost half of the population would be poor. 42.6%, or “around 10.8 million people” more in this situation, underlines in its latest report the European Network to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion in the Spanish State (EAPN-ES). Of course, this also highlights that Spain still has a long way to go when it comes to poverty reduction, with less impact than many of its European neighbors.
On the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, October 17, the number of people who live with very limited resources, which prevents them from guaranteeing the basic needs of society that surrounds them. This also happens in rich countries, like Spain.
In 2023, one in four people in Spain lived at risk of poverty and social exclusion, or 12.7 million people, or 26.5% of the population, according to the AROPE indicator. This measures poverty in terms of income, but also in aspects such as low employment intensity and lack of basic goods, such as not being able to afford a meal of meat, chicken or fish at less every two days and the inability to heat the house in winter. .or refresh it in summer. These last two indicators reached maximums in 2023, a year still very marked by inflation.
Without the State, what would happen?
With this photograph, the EAPN offers an exercise. What would happen if there was no State or if it was reduced to a minimum, as certain postulates and certain parties defend? As claimed by politicians who win elections, like in Argentina. What would happen if there was no family aid, social benefits, minimum living income or minimum integration income? What if we took pensions out of the equation?
Thanks to data from the Survey on Living Conditions, published by the INE (National Institute of Statistics), the study shows two scenarios. The first makes visible the impact of state transfers – without taking into account retirement and survivor’s pensions – on the reduction of poverty today. The second also includes public pensions which, although resulting from social contributions paid by workers throughout their period of activity, are also partly covered by taxes.
“If the State only made retirement and survivorship transfers and no others, the poverty rate would increase this year from 20.2% to 26.2%, or 6 percentage points more. In other words, transfers without taking into account pensions prevent nearly 3 million people from entering poverty this year,” the study indicates, with reference to 2023.
If the impact of pensions is taken into account, the reduction in poverty is much greater, at 16.4 percentage points, for around 7.8 million people, since they constitute the main means of livelihood of a large proportion of retirees. But not alone. EAPN wanted to emphasize this year that “pensions are not just a matter for the elderly,” emphasizes Juan Carlos Llano.
The report also shows how poverty is reduced among people under 65 thanks to pensions, since they form part of household income. Thus, “at the national level, thanks to these pensions, poverty is reduced by 5.4 points among the population aged 0 to 64”, underlines the study. “It is important to compare it with the effect of the rest of the transfers, which in this group are responsible for another reduction of 6.9 points,” the researchers add.
In the presentation of the study this week, Carlos Susías, president of EAPN-ES, highlighted this fact to highlight the relevance of the public pension system as a social pillar for the entire population, facing the actors who constantly question it and also in the face of discourses of intergenerational confrontation, between young and old.
Susías warned that “if they lower pensions, they will lower them and that’s it”, which will harm the older population (but not only), and without this money surely being reinvested in better protection of young people. For this group, Susías insisted that Spain must improve its aid, but also act with policies in two of the areas that impoverish them the most: housing and wages.
Much to improve: IMV, minimum income and more
In its territorial analysis, EAPN highlights the large differences in the impact of aid and pensions between the different Autonomous Communities.
“State action (without pensions) is manifested with great intensity in Cantabria, the Basque Country, the Region of Murcia, the Canary Islands and Extremadura; In all these countries, transfers reduce between 27 and 33% the value that the poverty rate would have if these transfers did not exist,” the report indicates. Those showing the least impact, with a reduction between “17% and 21%” in poverty rates, are the Community of Madrid, Andalusia, Navarra and La Rioja.
“The problem is that the INE does not distinguish between the types of aid or whether it is at the regional, municipal or state level. It brings together all state transfers,” explains Juan Carlos Llano, author and technical director of the report, which limits the more detailed analysis of regional differences and the effectiveness of the protective action of aid such as the IMV or minimum income with data. of this investigation.
However, social organizations know that there are autonomous communities that act very differently in areas within their competence, such as minimum integration income for people at risk of poverty. Before the approval of the Minimum Living Income (IMV), huge differences were reflected in its coverage and amounts. For example, more than 65% of people at risk of poverty in Navarre and Euskadi received their minimum income, while it only reached less than 2% in Andalusia and Castile-La Mancha.
With the implementation of the IMV by Social Security, instead of adapting the aid to make it complementary, the vast majority of Communities have reduced their spending in this essential policy to combat poverty. In 2022, the latest year for which data is available, those who reduced these elements the most were Aragon and Madrid, above 80%. CCOO Madrid denounces in a report this Thursday that “the appearance of the Minimum Living Income was the ideal argument to definitively eliminate this regional income. The data leaves no doubt, from January to August of this year, 28 minimum incomes were granted,” laments the union.
EAPN insists that the fight against poverty requires economic aid specific to the most vulnerable people, effective and reaching the population, an outstanding task for the IMV. This also requires transversal action: other transfers of support to families and children, where in Europe they have many advantages and with better results, policies that guarantee public services, such as education or health , as well as other essential goods, such as. such as access to housing.
Because when we act, we reduce poverty, they emphasize in EAPN. They give an example: data from 2021, when the State deployed the “social shield” during the pandemic, with a particular impact on ERTE, which lifted around 1.5 million people out of poverty, according to the ‘organization.
