Expenditure on Social Security Benefits totalled €1.076.9 million in 2020, an increase of 7.9 percent from the previous year. Figures by the National Statistics Office showed a consistent rise year-on-year from 2011, driven by both Contributory and Non-Contributory benefits.
Contributory benefits amounted to €878.3 million in 2020, up by €63.4 million from 2019. Old age retirement benefits made just over three-fourths of these benefits, totalling €598.2 million. The expenditure on Covid-19 benefits, addressing individuals employed in the private sector, reached €14.5 million.
Non-Contributory benefits increased by 6.2 percent in 2020, to a total of €198.6 million. Family and children’s allowance constituted a third of the share, the biggest single category of non-contributory benefits. Old age pensions amounted to €36.2 million or slightly over a fifth of this benefits expenditure while disability allowances totalled €29.1 million, equivalent to 18 percent.
