A €17.2 million increase was recorded in the social security benefits outlay between January and June compared to the same six-month period in 2017, according to the National Statistics Office.
The NSO said social security benefits expenditure reached €497 million during the first half of 2018, reflecting a 3.6% increase from 2017.
A €16.6 million increase in contributory benefits outlay proved to be the main catalyst for the rise in social security benefits expenditure.
Contributory benefits outlay reached €400.1 million, 4.3% more than in the corresponding six months in 2017. A €14.1 million rise in retirement pensions, the result of a significant increase in two-thirds pension beneficiaries, led to the increase in contributory outlay.
Further increases were recorded by pensions in respect of widowhood (€1.8 million) and contributory bonus (€1.2 million). On the other hand, declines in outlay were registered under invalidity pensions (€0.3 million) and other benefits (€0.2 million).
Non-contributory outlay amounted to €97 million, 0.6% more than in 2017. The largest increase was reported under the old age pension (€1.7 million), with further increases recorded under disability pension/allowance (€1.3 million), in-work benefit (€0.8 million) and supplementary assistance (€0.1 million).
Conversely, a decrease in outlay was reported under total social assistance (€3.2 million) and non-contributory bonus (€0.1 million).
Between April and June, €273.2 million was spent by the government on social security benefits, of which 81.9% was spent on contributory benefits. In comparison to 2017, contributory benefits outlay rose by €6.2 million while non-contributory outlay dropped by €4.4 million.
A €5.6 million rise in retirement pensions was the main reason for the increase in the former while the latter was caused by a €2.1 million drop registered under total social assistance.
Social security beneficiaries
During the first half of 2018 the two-thirds pension contained the largest cohort of contributory beneficiaries (47,822). It also registered the biggest rise in beneficiaries, with 2,084 more recipients in comparison to the same period in 2017.
On the other hand, the retirement pension reported the highest drop in recipients with 589 less persons than 2017.
The majority of non-contributory recipients consisted of children’s allowance (42,036), followed by supplementary assistance (24,171).
The in-work benefit recorded the largest increase in beneficiaries with 881 more recipients while the biggest drop in recipients was reported by the unemployment assistance (508).
On a quarterly basis a similar picture was shown with two-thirds pensioners containing the largest share of contributory beneficiaries with 47,321 recipients and the biggest cohort of non- contributory recipients falling under children’s allowance (41,215).