The number of beneficiaries of the Minimum Integration Income (RMI) has increased by 58% over the last decade. The benefit, designed as a protection network for people in situations of poverty or social exclusion, was received by 667,412 people according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Social RightsThis figure is much higher than that reached in 2009 – the year the financial crisis broke out – when 422,207 people had access to aid, which is the exclusive responsibility of the autonomous communities.
The year 2020 marked a turning point. The approval of the minimum living income with which the government tried to eradicate poverty and promote integration into the labor market, It has been used by several autonomous communities to reduce the number of beneficiariesand with it, the annual expenditure allocated to paying the RMI. In total, the number of beneficiaries of the aid has been reduced by 128,449 since 2020. The great example is that of the Community of Madrid. The region went from 78,200 beneficiaries in 2020 to just over 21,200 two years later. “The Madrid Minimum Income Law, which dates back to 2001, establishes the incompatibility of this benefit with other similar benefits; however, other autonomous communities have modified their rules to allow people at risk of exclusion to access both,” recalls Alberto Reyero, managing partner. of empathy. Other territories, on the contrary, are causing the number of beneficiaries to skyrocket
All this is logically reflected in the figures of expenditure for the payment of the RMI that the government of Madrid dedicates year after year. Díaz Ayuso Executive has halved spending on supporting this aidIn 2009, the LACC allocated €47.6 million. In 2020, it spent €133.7 million. Two years later, that figure is just €25.2 million.
The data contrasts with those of Catalonia or the Basque Country, which spent 526 and 379 million respectively in 2022. The Canary Islands are among the autonomies that – far from seeing the number of RMI beneficiaries decrease – have doubled it. Since 2020, they have gone from 20,200 to 46,100 registered according to the latest published data. “The big problem is that the IMV was approved in a hurry and the possibility of harmonizing benefits to avoid differences between the LACCs was lost,” insists Reyero.
Aid varies depending on the territory. The Basque Country sets the basic amount per holder at 800 euros per monthBehind them, Valencia, Catalonia and Navarre pay between 664 and 658 euros. Extremadura is around 580 euros. Others like Cantabria or Madrid do not reach 470 euros.
The beneficiary profile, however, is the same throughout Spain. Globally, seven out of ten beneficiaries – 71.12% – are of Spanish nationality, compared to 28% of foreigners. In regions such as Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla y León or Murcia, the percentage of national beneficiaries is well over 80%. It is also worth noting the high percentage of women receiving aid aimed at reducing social exclusion. Of the 667,413 people who benefited in 2022, 417,192 are women, or 62.51%, which indicates the feminization of poverty in Spain. By region, Catalonia and Valencia reflect this problem. Especially in the latter autonomy, where 89,922 of the 113,220 beneficiaries are women.
Only 17.5% of IMV beneficiaries are non-nationals
The Minimum Living Income is a social benefit that was born in record time during the pandemic as an alternative to the Minimum Insertion Income. The latest list of beneficiaries published by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration reports that 17.5% of the people who receive this aid are foreigners, or about 337,000 of the more than 1.9 million people to whom this aid reaches. This non-contributory aid serves, like the Minimum Income, to guarantee the subsistence of the most disadvantaged people in society and to cover a minimum of basic vital needs. Although the so-called social salary paid by the Autonomous Communities would be the last resort in case of not being able to benefit from the IMV.
According to the latest analysis of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) on the IMV, published this summer, the creation of this benefit “has expanded households under the guise of a last resort benefit compared to the situation before the entry into force”, explains the auditor, arguing the following data: “before the implementation of the IMV, in May 2020, there were 239,227 households receiving regional minimum incomes. In October 2023, 513,871 households will receive the IMV and/or the regional minimum income,” the agency says..
“On the other hand, the IMV continues to attract highly vulnerable households, as evidenced by the fact that the median duration of the benefit is 30 months or that 40% have benefited from it since the introduction of the IMV in 2020,” the analysis explains. “It is increasingly crucial to deepen the reduction of don’t take to achieve the potential effects of the benefit,” he commented in the thread on the IMV, which is already more than a supplement for vulnerable families. Social Security admitted earlier this year that the gap of potential beneficiaries who did not apply for the IMV The advantage and they could charge a high amount and they decided to improve coverage.
