Malta is sixth from the bottom when it comes to expenditure on social protection, official figures show.
The figures also show that Malta’s spend actually decreased to 17.5 per cent in 2015 from the 19.3 per cent of GDP spent in 2010.
The European Union’s statistics office revealed that while social protection expenditure in the EU had increased slightly, from 28.6 per cent of GDP in 2010 to 29 per cent, Malta’s expenditure had decreased.
France has spent most on social protection, with 34 per cent of its GDP, followed by Denmark and Finland (both 32 per cent), Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Italy (all 30 per cent).
Social protection expenditure stood below the 20 per cent mark of GDP in Romania and Latvia (both 15 per cent), Lithuania and Estonia (both 16 per cent), Ireland (17 per cent), Malta, Bulgaria and Slovakia (all 18 per cent) as well as in Czech Republic (19 per cent).
According to Eurostat, these disparities reflect differences in living standards, “but are also indicative of the diversity of national social protection systems and of the demographic, economic, social and institutional structures specific to each Member State”.
In 2015, the two main sources of funding of social protection at EU level were social contributions, making up 54 per cent of total receipts, and general government contributions from taxes at 43 per cent.
On average in the EU, old age and survivors benefits accounted for 45 per cent of total social benefits in 2015 and made up the major part of social protection benefits in nearly all Member States.
In Malta, old age and survivors’ benefits resulted in the highest expenditure, standing at 51.2 per cent of the spend, while the lowest benefits were those handed out for housing and family exclusion – 2.5 per cent.
Family and children stood at 6.7 per cent, unemployment at three per cent and sickness and healthcare at 36.6 per cent.
Family and children benefits accounted for slightly less than 9 per cent of total social benefits on average in the EU in 2015.
The share of family benefits in total ranged from four per cent in the Netherlands to almost 16 per cent in Luxembourg.
Unemployment benefits varied between less than one per cent in Romania and 12 per cent in Ireland.