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Malta Ranks In European Union’s Bottom Six When It Comes To Social Benefits Expenditure

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Malta falls below the EU average when it comes to social protection expenditure, according to a report released by Eurostat.

One of the few countries in the EU that spends less than 20% of its GDP on social protection expenditure, Malta is sitting at a measly 16% along with Estonia. Those below Malta are Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland (all at 15%) and Romania at (14%).

On the other hand, social protection expenditure represented over 30% of GDP in France, Denmark and Finland, followed closely by Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Sweden.

ec.europa.eu/eurostat

ec.europa.eu/eurostat

The huge disparity between Member States meant that the EU GDP average decreased from 28.7% in 2012 to 27.9% in 2017. 

Malta also experienced a decrease in GDP expenditure, from 19.2% in 20102 to 16.1% in 2017.

However, the country didn’t rank highest or lowest when it came to the distribution of expenditure across various social benefits. Of the 16.1 % GDP dedicated to social benefits in 2017, 52.6% of it went to old age & survivors benefits, 37.8% on sickness/healthcare & disability benefits, 5.5% to family and children benefits,  2.2% on unemployment benefits, and 1.9% on housing and social exclusion.

What do you make of these statistics? Let us know in the comments below

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When JP's not too busy working on polyrhythmic beats, you'll probably find him out and about walking his dog.

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