Pension Trends in September: Key Insights on Social Security Benefits in North America

In September, Social Security recorded a historic year-over-year increase in total benefits, reaching a high mark driven by ongoing government oversight. The Ministry of Participation, Social Security and Immigration reported that pension payments to contributors rose by 6.2 percent compared with September of the prior year, while overall expenditure increased by 4.5 percent.

The department, led by José Luis Escrivá, manages pension spending. In September, expenses represented 11.8 percent of GDP, a share that remains below the 2020 peak of 12.4 percent and below 2021’s 12.1 percent, reflecting the pandemic’s lingering impact and subsequent recovery dynamics.

From the 10.867 billion euros allocated for contributor pensions in September, roughly 72.4 percent covered pension payments totaling 7.8715 billion euros, reflecting a 6.7 percent rise from September of the previous year.

A portion of resources supported survivor pensions, disability allowances, and related benefits. The system dedicated funds to widowhood pensions, permanent disability benefits, and other protective measures, with total allocations of 1.8333 billion euros, about 5 percent higher than the prior year, and 983.3 million euros for other categories, up 4 percent.

Additionally, orphan benefits received 150.5 million euros, up 5 percent, while grants for relatives totaled 28.5 million euros, up 7 percent.

Nearly 10 million pensions

In September, the country paid 9,949,869 contributor pensions, covering just over 9 million retirees, an increase of 0.8 percent from the previous year. Of these, more than 6.26 million were retirement pensions, about 2.35 million were survivor pensions, 950,209 were for permanent disability, 343,041 were for orphans, and 44,499 were for dependent relatives.

As of September 1, the total number of retirees stood at 9,015,737, with 4.6 million men and 4.4 million women. The average pension per recipient was 1.1 pensions per person.

Actual pension disbursements went to 6.1 million people as regular retirement payments; 1.6 million received widow pensions; 944,769 were monthly recipients of permanent disability benefits; 325,708 benefited from orphan pensions, and 43,754 received allowances for family relatives.

Pensions increased by 5.3%

The average pension in September reached 1,256.96 euros per month, up 5.3 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Within the General Regime, the average pension was 1,405.3 euros per month, compared with 836.7 euros for the Self-Employed Regime. Coal Mining averaged 2,449 euros per month, while Marine Mining averaged 1,395 euros.

The average widow’s pension stood at 780.2 euros per month, up 5.2 percent annually. The system-wide average pension, including all pension types (retirement, permanent disability, widow, orphan, and relative support), rose by 5.3 percent to 1,092.18 euros per month as of September 1.

New pension enrollments averaged 1,424.7 euros per month in August, the latest data available.

Passive classes

At the end of August, the number of active pensions within passive classes reached 682,914, up 1.7 percent from the previous year. The monthly payroll for these pensioners totaled 1,319.5 million euros.

The Passive Class Regime primarily covers military personnel, senior state administration officials, authorities delegated to autonomous communities, and the judiciary and related constitutional bodies.

Supplement for gender difference

As of September, 321,194 pensions included the gender-equality supplement, aimed at gradually narrowing the gap between average pension amounts received by men and women.

The typical monthly supplement amount was 61.5 euros, benefiting 93.1 percent of the women who receive this top-up. Of the 321,194 additional pensions, 21.4 percent corresponded to pensioners with one child, 47.3 percent to those with two children, 20.1 percent to those with three children, and 11.3 percent to those with four children.

The supplement has been in effect since February of the previous year and is a fixed monthly payment of 28 euros per child, valid from the first child up to a maximum of four, requested at the same time as the pension application.