Spain Archives - Pension Policy International

11SepSeptember 11, 2026

Spain. The Social Security chains a surplus of 9.162 million until July thanks to the strong advance of contributions

The Social Security closed the first seven months of the year with a positive result of 9.162 billion euros, equivalent to 0.5% of GDP. This balance is obtained after total revenues of 154.231 billion euros, 7.8% more than a year earlier, against expenses of 145.069 billion, which increased by 7%, according to data released this Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. Between January and July, the system obtained 109.913 billion euros in income from social contributions,...

September 11, 2026

Newssavings, Social Security, Spain

11JunJune 11, 2026

Spain. Pension specialists denounce the short-term approach and demand reforms with a long-term horizon

Several pension specialists have denounced this Tuesday the short-term nature that, in their opinion, has dominated the debate on the future of the system and have urged to face its sustainability with a long-term perspective. In a conference promoted by Funcas and the Association of Journalists of Economic Information (APIE), the professor of Sociology at UNED and researcher at Funcas, Elisa Chuliá, stated that the 2023 pension reform has implied a "paradigm shift" compared to previous modifications. As she explained, while...

June 11, 2026

NewsPension design, Pension Reform, Spain

01JunJune 1, 2026

Spain. AIReF confirms that the pension reform does not guarantee sustainability

The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) maintains that the approved pension reform does not guarantee long-term financial viability. The system survives now, but the future is uncertain and the economic situation is becoming more complicated. The new AIReF report, presented on May 30, 2026, updates forecasts for the 2022-2050 period and confirms that the deficit and public debt will increase due to the impact of an aging population and insufficient measures. Formal compliance with the spending rule but with red flags The...

June 1, 2026

NewsPension Reform, Spain, System sustainability

26MayMay 26, 2026

Spain. Pension spending marks a new high of 14,366 million in May, 6.1% more year-on-year

Social Security has allocated in this month of May a historic disbursement of 14,365.8 million euros to pay the ordinary payroll of contributory pensions, which represents an increase of 6.1% compared to the same period in 2025, as communicated this Tuesday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations. This payroll incorporates the revaluation of pensions approved by the Government for 2026. In general, the increase applied is 2.7%, in line with the average CPI recorded between December 2024...

May 26, 2026

NewsPension Reform, Public spending, Social Security, Spain

19DecDecember 19, 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...

December 19, 2025

Articles, Labor Market2025, Aging, Equality, Labor Market, Pension Reform, Social Security, Spain

28NovNovember 28, 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...

November 28, 2025

Articles, Labor Market2025, Immigration, Income, Labor Market, Spain

12SepSeptember 12, 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...

September 12, 2025

Articles, Pension design2025, Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, Spain

25JulJuly 25, 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...

July 25, 2025

Articles, System Sustainability2025, Aging, Pension Reform, Social Security, Spain

22AprApril 22, 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...

April 22, 2025

News, SliderPension Reform, Spain, supervision

01AprApril 1, 2025

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...

April 1, 2025

News, SliderSpain, System sustainability

September 2026

June 2026

Spain. Pension specialists denounce the short-term approach and demand reforms with a long-term horizon

Spain. AIReF confirms that the pension reform does not guarantee sustainability

May 2026

December 2025

November 2025

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

September 2025

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

July 2025

April 2025

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

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