The strong boost that employment has experienced in the last decade has increased the number of contributors per pensioner, so that in June there were 2.32 workers for each pension recipient, an average that is higher in the Canary Islands, reaching 2.69 employees.
According to Social Security data accessed by EFE, at the end of June there were 21.32 million employed contributors and almost 9.2 million pensioners in Spain, which puts the dependency ratio at 2.32.
In the case of the Canary Islands, that ratio is 2.69 workers per pensioner, being slightly higher in the case of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (2.70) than in that of Las Palmas (2.68).
In recent years, this rate has had a clearly upward evolution, going from 1.97 in 2013 to 2.28 in 2023, thanks to the fact that the number of contributors has grown in the last decade by 27.5%, almost three times more than that of pensioners, which has increased by 10.4%.
However, this ratio of workers per pensioner presents territorial differences that fluctuate from 3.5 employed per pensioner in the Balearic Islands to little more than parity in Orense.
In detail, the bulk of contributors are currently framed in the general regime (16.8 million), while there are almost 3.4 million self-employed, 12,543 workers in the sea regime and 906 in coal.
Of the total of 9,198,059 pensioners, most receive retirement pensions (6.35 million people), followed by widowhood recipients (1.52 million), permanent disability (956,679), orphanhood (323,278) and in favor of relatives (45,500).
According to Social Security data, the annual growth rate of average affiliation to Social Security (2.5%) is slightly more than double the growth of the number of pensioners (1.16%).
The rate will be reduced in the future
Despite this increase in the dependency rate, all studies point to its reduction in the future, once the so-called "baby boom" generation (those born from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s) begins to retire.
Thus, according to the projections of public spending on pensions prepared by the Ministry of Inclusion, the retirement of this generation will raise the number of pensioners to exceed 16 million in 2050, a figure that according to AIReF will be 16.7 million.
Between 2021 and 2022, the Government carried out a reform of the pension system to face the increase in spending foreseen in benefits during the next decades.
In a first part, the Government approved an intergenerational equity mechanism (MEI), a earmarked contribution to add income to the "pension piggy bank", and changes in incentives and penalties to extend the real retirement age, as well as a reform of the contribution system for the self-employed.
Likewise, the maximum contribution base of the system was increased and a solidarity quota was created for the highest salaries, all in order to increase the income of the system.
In 2025, the evaluation of the safeguard clause is foreseen, which, in the event that the projection of expenditure on income deviates from the forecasts, will force measures to be taken to prevent the system's accounts from becoming unbalanced.
Differences between regions
The dependency rate between affiliates and pensioners has remained around 2% since there are records (1990), although it reached almost 3% in 2007, from which year it has been moderating, although with ups and downs, to the current situation.
Although the relationship between employed and pensioners in the national territory stands at 2.32, the regions present differences that show which are the most aged or the most dynamic in terms of employment.
Thus, the highest ratios are recorded in the single-province communities of the Balearic Islands (with 3.50 workers per pensioner) and Madrid (3.23), as well as in Almería (3.04), while the lowest are recorded in Orense (1.13), Lugo (1.32) and León (1.35).
The following table shows, by autonomous communities and provinces, the number of employed affiliates registered with Social Security on the last day of June, the number of pensioners on June 1 and the dependency rate between the two: