The government spent twice as much for the elderly as for the young.

Two-euro movie tickets on Tuesdays for people over 65 or discounts for young people leaving Interrail this summer are the last two measures the Government has announced in recent weeks, segmented specifically for the two demographic poles. added to a dense array of commitments. living place anyone scholarships reaching billions of euros. Only in home purchase guarantees for under 35s Manager estimates to put on the table 2.5 billion €.

“In my intuition, if the choices tighter than everand apparently they are, someone has read that mobilizing these young people, no matter how little, is very important and can change the balance,” said a professor of political science at the University of Carlos III. pablo simon. 37.6 million people called to the polls 28 May, according to data compiled by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). And for every adult under 30 and eligible to vote, there are more than two people over 65. In other words, young people are historically less stable when it comes to going to the polls.

Despite the fact that most of the new measures announced by the government focused specifically on the young, the majority of the new resources mobilized during this legislative period benefited the elderly. With the revaluation of lead pensions. Between 2020 and 2023, two euros were allocated to persons over 65 for each incremental expenditure allocated mainly to items that benefit the youngest or include future investments.

Tension between short and long run

The approximation made by comparing the expense items of the last four General Government Budgets and the increase in investments, not the accumulated investments allocated to the portfolios.pensions‘ And ‘Public debt‘ fold (61,791 million) ‘ increase in spendinginvestigation and R+D+D’, ‘social services’, ‘promotion of employment‘unemployment benefits‘‘education‘ and ‘housing promotion’ (26,962 million). Second, items that primarily benefit the youngest or represent a current expenditure to improve the economy in the future.

“It is not discounts on Interrail that are good for young people, but policies that increase efficiency and look long-term. And that costs money and there needs to be a public debate about how we distribute it. “We who are adults should be concerned when it comes to voting, not only for ourselves, but also for young people,” notes the professor at the Complutense University in Madrid and the deputy director of the Fedea. Jose Ignacio Conde Ruiz.

This rate of increase in public expenditures, 2 to 1 during the legislative period as a whole, especially last year 10 to 1. Basically the same as the CPI, with an 8.5% revaluation of all pensions – from the maximum rising to EUR 3,058.81 per month to the no-contributory minimum of EUR 484.61 per month. From one year to the next it required the State to allocate an additional €19,547 million to the pension item, up to a total of €190,687 million per year. To put it in perspective, the total budgeted State investment for housing, which is currently on historical records, is 3,477 million Euros.

dependent family members

“It would be a mistake to read pension reassessment as an expenditure only for the elderly, because every euro collected by pensions is distributed within the family and is dedicated to domestic consumption that benefits the economy,” they argue from the CCOO.

“The basic unit of redistribution in Spain is the family and this has equitable implications. So this lack of spending [en los jóvenes] It’s not that noticeable, because it’s the house that makes up for it. Not all young or old are equally vulnerable”, states Simon. This political scientist points out that another approach to assessing the intergenerational distribution of public spending is the redistribution capacity of public spending. So, do we spend more where there is poverty?

“There is bad news. We have a record in Spain child poverty And youth. The first has no votes and the second has very few. “If you compare the profiles of poor households, poverty in households with two spouses over the age of 65 is 10 points below the average, while poverty in single-parent households with dependent children jumps to over 30 points,” he says. Professor of political science at UC3M.

Fees, pending issue

Experts consulted for this report deny that this demographic tension should be read as a threat. intergenerational war, accordingly, at the expense of the prosperity of some and the scarcity of others. But a new scenario requires a new dialectic. For UB professor Montserrat Guillen An important variable in the coming years isn’t how spending is distributed among generations — “it’s important not to strain the room for maneuver of future generations,” he notes — but rather how spending will be made. fees taken by young people. And will Spain be able to get closer to European locomotives or not?

“There will be increased competition between countries to attract young workers and you need to create the conditions to prevent escapes,” Guillén says. “The sharp decline in the birth rate is closely related to the perception and reality of insecurity that many young people face,” says Esade, professor of economics. Pedro Aznar. The latest data from the INE reveal that 10% fewer babies were born in Spain than in 2019 before the pandemic.

Currently, the labor market is not going in that direction, or even the other way around. Spaniards on average 31% less than its eurozone counterparts before the outbreak of the epidemic. housing bubbleIn 2008, according to the latest data published by, the difference was 23%. Eurostat. His proposal includes, inter alia, wage agreements between employers and unions for longer years, providing a higher degree of cohesion between the parties and allowing not only to lose purchasing power but also to earn it.

Spain has not yet begun to age. Young people will become increasingly insignificant numerically to win elections, but at the same time vote with your feet”, warns the deputy director of Fedea.