December 2025

Social Security Reforms and Inequality among Older Workers in Spain

By Cristina Bellés-Obrero, Manuel Flores, Pilar Garcia-Gomez, Sergi Jimenez-Martin & Judit Vall Castelló This chapter studies social security reforms and trends in inequalities among older workers over the last decades in Spain. Its main goal is to analyze the redistributive impact of the various pension reforms on older income inequality. Compared to the rules in 1985, recent pension reforms have led to an average increase on Social Security Wealth of approximately 18,000€ for men and 15,000€ for women. This represents...

November 2025

The Cost of Waiting for Nationality: Impact on Immigrant’s Labor Market Outcomes in Spain

By Yanina Domenella In this paper, I examine the impact of administrative delays in obtaining Spanish nationality on the long-term labor market outcomes of legal immigrants. Using Social Security data from 2006 to 2019 and an instrumental variable strategy, I find that longer delays in nationality acquisition result in significantly lower accumulated earnings over a ten-year period, driven by both lower wages and fewer days worked. Specifically, one additional year of delay reduces accumulated earnings over 10 years by 3.8...

September 2025

Ndc Benchmarking and Actuarial Fairness in Spain’s Db Pensions: Retirement, Disability, and Survivor Reversibility

By Carlos Vidal-Meliá We apply an actuarially grounded Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) counterfactual to benchmark Spain’s pay‑as‑you‑go Defined Benefit (DB) pensions using administrative microdata (MCVL, 2015–2023). From observed contribution histories we reconstruct notional capital, price DB liabilities with contingency‑, gender‑ and income‑stratified mortality—adding severity‑ and onset‑adjusted tables for disability—and quantify actuarial fairness via money’s‑worth ratios (MWR), real internal rates of return (IRR), and notional–cost gaps. A unified treatment of retirement, disability, and survivor reversibility employs joint‑life valuation.Results show pervasive actuarial...

July 2025

Pensions in Spain: A Reform that Backfires

By Julián Díaz Saavedra & Javier Díaz-Giménez After the pension policy reversal that took place at the end of the past decade, the Spanish government approved a pack of new parametric changes to its public pension system, to cope with the present and future Spanish pension system imbalance. To study these changes, we use a large-scale overlapping generations model calibrated to the Spanish Economy, and show that this pension reform backfires. This is because these changes bring no significant variation...

April 2025

Spain. AIReF’s evaluation of the pension reform: first match ball saved, but with big challenges on the horizon

At the end of March, the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) published its estimate, as was its mandate, of the average impact during the period 2022-2050 of the new revenue measures introduced as part of the pension reforms and other economic measures implemented since 2020 in order to fund the pension system.1 This estimate was the last missing piece needed to determine whether the expenditure rule previously agreed between the government and the European Commission within the framework of the...

Spanish pension system’s sustainability ‘not improved’ after reforms say Airef

The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (Airef) has criticized the methods used by Social Security to balance its calculations and has warned about the lack of sustainability of pensions, which ‘has not improved after the reforms,’ pointed out Airef President Cristina Herrero, who noted that ‘the dynamics of pensions are now worse than before’ the reforms promoted by former Social Security Minister José Luis Escrivá, which included revaluation with inflation and an increase in contributions. The agency warns that sustainability...

December 2024

Spain To Boost Pensions Significantly By 2025

Major reforms announced to address inflation and support vulnerable pensioners. Starting January 1, 2025, Spain will implement significant pension reforms ushering both structural changes and substantial increases aimed at enhancing the financial well-being of pensioners. These reforms are framed within the government's broader strategy to address economic inequalities and inflationary pressures affecting vulnerable populations.The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, led by Elma Saiz, confirmed the increments will affect both contributory and non-contributory pensions, marking one of the most...

How the place where people live influences aging in Spain

As the population ages and grows in our cities, the question arises of whether this environment is truly a suitable space for older people to live fully, with health, comfort, and quality of life. Although cities offer access to medical services, social activities, and amenities that are often lacking in rural areas, they also present barriers that limit the quality of life. Are our streets and services really adapted to their needs? Are we making enough progress? Are rural...

November 2024

Universalizing the Access to Long-Term Care: Evidence from Spain

By Joan Costa-i-Font, Sergi Jiménez-Martín, Cristina Vilaplana Prieto & Analía Viola Spain together with Scotland are two countries that exhibit the largest expansions in long term care (LTC) in the last two decades, universalizing subsidies and supports. This paper is part of a global effort to provide a snapshot of the trends in LTC use and access, as well as the financing, and organization of the LTC system compared to other higher-income countries. The passage of Act 39/2006 on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy...

September 2024

Key Elements of the Pension Reform Agreement Signed Today by Spanish Government and Unions

The keys to the pension reform agreement are being finalized today, September 18, 2024. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will join union leaders to mark this important event. The reform aims to improve retirement conditions for workers, especially those in tough jobs. Key Takeaways Pedro Sánchez to sign pension reform agreement. Early retirement options for hard professions. Partial retirement regulations improved for workers. Lower retirement age for specific job conditions. Enhanced conditions for fixed-discontinuous workers. Mútues to collaborate on temporary...