Pensions etc.

Social spending increased by 7.2 percent in 2023

(Bild: dpa/Andreas Gebert)

According to Statistics Austria, social spending - such as pensions, unemployment benefits and family allowances - increased by 7.2 percent from 2022 to 2023. The approximately 146.2 billion euros spent on this represents a new high.

In 2022, around 136.4 billion euros were spent on social benefits. At 45%, the majority of this was spent on old-age benefits, while 28% was spent on healthcare benefits.

Growth higher than economic growth
The increase in social spending was higher than economic growth, according to a report by the Ministry of Social Affairs. As a result, the social expenditure ratio - the share of social benefits in gross domestic product (GDP) - rose slightly from 30.5 to 30.9 percent. 97 percent of social expenditure was spent on social benefits, with the remainder on administrative costs, among other things. Slightly less than two thirds were paid out in cash benefits.

Expenditure on old-age benefits rose to 64.5 billion euros
Expenditure on old-age benefits - almost entirely pension benefits - rose by 9.1% to EUR 64.5 billion. That is around 45% of social benefits in 2023. 28 percent (EUR 39.9 billion, up 6.6 percent on 2022) was spent on healthcare benefits. Around nine percent went to family and children, around five percent each to disability, survivors and unemployment, and around three percent to housing and social exclusion.

Broken down by provider, 55 percent of social expenditure was accounted for by social insurance, including pension, health and unemployment insurance. For the first time, the federal states and municipalities had a higher share of expenditure (21%) - used for minimum income, kindergartens and hospitals, for example - than the federal government (19%), which was used for family allowances and civil servant pensions, among other things.

In 2023, 39% (57 billion euros) of social expenditure was financed from tax revenue, 34% (50 billion euros) from employer contributions and 26% (37 billion euros) from contributions from protected persons.