Expenditure on social security benefits rose by 4.1 per cent last year mostly resulting from increases in pensions in respect of retirement, social assistance and children’s allowance, the National Statistics Office said.

It said total expenditure on social security benefits amounted to €814.5 million in 2013, a €31.9 million rise compared to 2012.

An increase in outlay was recorded for contributory benefits (€20 million) and non-contributory benefits (€11.9 million).

Last year the outlay on social security benefits made up 11.3 per cent of the GDP.

Expenditure on contributory benefits totalled €624.9 million in 2013, registering a 3.3 per cent increase over the previous year. A rise in outlay was recorded under pensions in respect of Retirement (€15.2 million), due to the two-thirds pension (€23.1 million).

Further expenditure increases were recorded under other benefits (€1.1 million) and pensions in respect of Invalidity (€0.5 million). These were partially offset by a decline in pensions in respect of widowhood (€1.9 million).

A total of €189.5 million was spent on non-contributory benefits last year, 6.7 per cent more than 2012.

This was mainly due to a higher outlay recorded under social assistance (€6.1 million) and children’s allowance (€3.4 million).

An increase in expenditure was also registered under old age pension (€1.4 million), disability pension/allowance (€0.9 million) and supplementary assistance (€0.2 million).

Outlay on medical assistance declined by €0.8 million.

In the fourth quarter last year a decline in expenditure was recorded (€30.6 million).

Both the outlays on contributory benefits (€21.8 million) and on non-contributory benefits (€8.8 million) decreased in comparison to the corresponding quarter in 2012. These were mainly due to decreases in expenditure for Pensions in respect of Retirement (€23.7 million) and children’s allowance (€5.8 million), respectively.