Madrid, Catalonia and Murcia are the only autonomous communities that have reduced social spending (health, education and social services) Since the pandemic, according to a study by the Association of Management and Administrators in Social Services.
The report shows that the spending of autonomous communities in these three areas over which they have authority increased by 7% compared to 2019. The items allocated to other policies increased by 34%.
In all communities current spending on social policies increased by 8,526.8 million euros between 2019 and 2021He details this analysis, prepared with data from the Ministry of Finance and the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
“The health and social crisis caused by Covid has highlighted the importance of spending on basic public services such as health, education and social services; however, The increase in spending on these community-led policies was only 7% between 2019 and 2021.while the amount allocated to other areas has increased fivefold,” explains José Manuel Ramírez, president of the association of social managers.
State transfers, according to research A “significant increase” in this period, reaching 23,701 million Euros.
“This increase in government funding was not equally reflected in the increase in social spending in communities.“emphasizes Ramírez, which accounts for the “under-growth of 3.5% in healthcare spending (2,356 million more) taking into account the pandemic situation”.
The evolution of spending on social policies has been very uneven. By amount, almost all communities exceeded their per capita social spending in 2019 in 2021, with the exception of Catalonia, Madrid and Murcia. Castilla-La Mancha stands out with 515 euros and La Rioja 487; 134 reduced in Catalonia; Madrid, 119 and Murcia, 65 euros.
If the percentage of budget allocated to social policies is observed, 12 out of 17 reduce it, especially in the Community of Madrid (10.18%) and Asturias (6.72%), followed by Extremadura (5.93%) and Catalonia (5.55%) is pronounced. %).
Considering the per capita expenditure in 2021, Madrid’s 2,202 euros to consolidate social rights contrasts with Navarra’s 3,748 euros and the Basque Country’s 3,570 euros.
“They had to spend 10 years and an epidemic to recover social spending,” complains the president of this association. The 116.9 million autonomists allocated to social policies in 2009 were not exceeded until 2019, when 122.5 million were spent.
But spending on other policies continued to rise: if it cost 121 euros per person in 2008, it was seven times higher in 2021 (840 euros), “so that communities’ health, education and social services,” the document states.
The table below shows the per capita and yearly expenditures allocated to health, education and social policies by the autonomous communities in 2021 and the percentage change of the budget allocated to these items between 2019 and 2021.