Retirement spending hits a new record in November. Social Security paid the ordinary salary plus the “additional” Christmas salary to 9.3 million people who receive 10.3 million in contributory pensions. Thus, the monthly pension payment rises to 25.565 million euros, the highest level in history.
As Social Security reported this morning on its website, the monthly payroll for contributory pensions (retirement, widowhood, permanent disability, etc.) was 12,941 million euros, a new record in retirement spending after surpassing the 12 billion euro mark last year in July.
The average Social Security pension is 1,260.9 euros this month, 5.3% more than the same month of the previous year. This average includes the amount of different types of pension (retirement, permanent disability, widowhood, orphan and in favor of relatives). The average retirement pension amounts to 1,448.8 euros per month, to which is added in November the average additional salary of 1,428.5 euros: almost 2,900 euros gross for an extraordinary Christmas.
Retirement trend
“The 2024 data reflect a change in trend at the time of retirement pension application,” specifies the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. The latest pension reform toughened reductions for voluntary early retirement and, at the same time, introduced bonuses for those who voluntarily delay their retirement age beyond 65 or 67.
Until October this year (latest data available), 305,702 new pension registrations were recorded. Early retirements (88,860 cases) remain below 30% after falling compared to the 40% they represented before the reform. 70.9% of those registered (216,772) retired at the ordinary age of 65 or 67, depending on the accredited contribution period.
During the same period, 9.4% of registrations corresponded to the deferred retirement method compared to 4.8% in 2019, i.e. a doubling. Due to the voluntary postponement of the moment of retirement and the gradual increase in the legal retirement age, The average retirement age is 65.2 yearswhile in 2019 it was 64.4. This average age remained stable throughout the year.
By type of pension
Three quarters of the contributory pension payroll corresponds to retirement pensions. These pensions represent the 73.1% of payroll, 9,467.1 million euros. 2,114.9 million euros were allocated to widow’s pensions, while the payroll for permanent disability benefits amounts to 1,153.7 million; that of orphans, at 170.8 million euros and that of benefits in favor of family members, at 34.4 million.
Of the 10.3 million contributory pensions paid: 6.5 million are for retirement, 2.4 million for widows and the rest correspond to permanent disability pensions (989,767), orphan’s pensions (339,497) and members’ pensions. of the family (46,266). The total number of pensions increases by 1.6% in year-on-year terms. As for the number of retirees, it stood at 9.3 million in November. Of these, 4.7 million are men and 4.6 million are women.
The state pension is the main pension for 6.4 million people. Among them, 60% are men. In the case of the widow’s pension, of the 1.5 million people who benefit from it as their main benefit, 95.8% are women. On the other hand, there are 985,333 beneficiaries of permanent disability, 321,398 beneficiaries of orphanages and 45,705 beneficiaries of allowances for family members.
Gender Gap Supplement
In November, 890,872 pensions benefited from the gender gap supplementincluding in a 89% of its owners are women (793,139). The average monthly amount of this pension supplement is 70.2 euros.
Of the total supplemented pensions, 24.6% correspond to retirees with children (219,584); 47.1% of recipients, with two children (419,296); 18.5% benefit from it for three children (165,152), and for four children, 9.7% (86,840).
This supplement, in force since February 2021, consists of a lump sum of 33.20 euros per month and per child, after the revaluation applied in 2024. The request must be made at the time of applying for the pension.
Payments to retired civil servants
On the other hand, the monthly payroll for Passive Classes pensions, the regime in which civil servants were located until 2011, amounted to 1.620 million euros in the month of October (latest data available). This figure represents an increase of 102.1 million euros compared to the previous year, or 6.7% more.
The number of pensions in force was 720 148i.e. 15,091 more pensions than the same month of the previous year (annual variation of 2.1%).
The regime of passive classes of the State essentially includes the military and civilian personnel of the general administration of the State, the administration of justice, general courts and other constitutional or state bodies, as well as civil servants transferred to the autonomous communities.
