Persons residing in Malta received an average of €1,892 each in social security benefits in 2014, an official publication released today show.
Floriana residents have the highest average per capita (€3,216) while Mtarfa registering (€925) registers the lowest, according to the National Statistics Office publication Social Protection: Malta and the EU.
The document shows Xgħajra recorded the largest share of family/children beneficiaries (179 recipients per 1,000 population) whereas Sliema recorded the lowest share (61 recipients per 1,000 population).
The total gross social protection expenditure amounted to €1,519.4 million, reflecting an increase of 6.4 per cent compared to 2013.
Cospicua and Valletta registered the largest number of sickness and social exclusion recipients, at 187 and 166 beneficiaries per 1,000 population respectively.
Żebbuġ in Gozo was the locality with the highest ratio of unemployed beneficiaries to locality population at 7.2 per cent, while the lowest ratio was recorded in Attard.
Overall, the gross social protection expenditure-to-GDP ratio stood at 18.8 per cent up by 0.2 percentage points compared to 2013.
The only function registering a decrease in social expenditure was unemployment (down by €1.7 million).
The number of sick days taken by private and public employees (648,614) went down by 11,320 days from 201
The number of sick days taken by private and public employees (648,614) went down by 11,320 days from 2013.
The total tax revenue obtained from social income totalled €30.8 million more than 2013.
The number of pensioners increased by 4,327 when compared to the figure in 2010.
The majority of beneficiaries benefited from an Old Age benefit, with Mdina and Mtarfa recording the highest and lowest number of beneficiaries per 1,000 population at 300 and 59 respectively.
The Gozo and Comino district benefited the most from the disability function, even though this function registered the least amount of beneficiaries. In 2013, Malta recorded the second lowest share of social protection expenditure on Disability benefits in the EU -3.9 per cent.