Countries have social protection
systems with the purpose of counteracting many diverse social risks, such as
unemployment, old age and social exclusion, being encountered by their
residents. These systems consist of
various policies and programs aimed at different groups of people, each
providing protection against a single risk or need. Specifically in 2020, the
Maltese Government implemented various support measures to aid businesses and
individuals who were significantly and negatively impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic.
This publication provides a broad
analysis of Malta’s social protection system, focusing on data from 2016 to 2020.
Data on social expenditure adheres to the ESSPROS Manual composed by Eurostat
and is categorised according to ESSPROS function and social protection scheme.
The former provides the main theme of the publication with a chapter devoted to
each of the eight ESSPROS functions; (1) sickness, (2) disability, (3) old age,
(4) survivors, (5) family/children, (6) unemployment, (7) housing and (8)
social exclusion.
The final chapter of the publication presents an
overview of the geographic location of social benefits recipients in the
Maltese Islands, with data split up to local council level. Various maps are
included throughout the publication as a visual representation of beneficiaries’
residency in Malta and Gozo.
Key facts
ESSPROS
By the end of 2020, Malta’s social outlay amounted
to €2,622.0 million, equivalent to 20.1 per cent of the
country’s GDP.
The abovementioned social outlay represented a €582.8 million, or 28.6 per cent, rise from 2019.
Employment support measures introduced by the
Government to address the negative financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
led to the significant jump in social expenditure. In 2020, such measures
amounted to €410.2 million, 96.5
per cent of which covered the basic wages of employees under the Wage
Supplement scheme. Furthermore, social expenditure under the Hospitals and
Other Health Care Facilities scheme rose by €80.8 million.
In addition to the COVID-19 measures, a €52.9 million increase was reported under the Social
Security Contributory Benefits scheme. Overall, twelve of Malta’s nineteen
active social protection schemes reported a rise in expenditure during 2020.
Benefits recorded under the Old Age (€933.4 million), Sickness/Health Care (€828.1 million) and Unemployment (€438.0 million) functions accounted for 83.9 per cent
of the total spending.
In 2019, €22.9 million of €2,039.2 million was recouped in social taxes
resulting in a total net outlay of €2,016.3 million. This
represented a €149.1 million increase
in comparison to 2018. The largest share (52.3 per cent) of taxation was
reported under the Social Security Contributory Benefits scheme. There were 97,070 persons in a receipt of a pension
in 2020, 56.4 per cent being males. Since the inaugural Pension Beneficiaries data
collection by Eurostat in 2007, persons in receipt of a pension have increased
by 32.0 per cent. Old Age pensions reported the largest number of
recipients, totalling 73,044 by the end of 2020.
Social Protection in
the EU
- In 2019, social spending in the EU27 accounted for 26.8
per cent of the Member States’ combined GDP.
- France (31.2 per cent) and Ireland (13.0 per cent)
reported the highest and lowest social protection-to-GDP proportions,
respectively. In comparison, Malta’s ratio amounted to 14.5 per cent, ranking#
the country just above Ireland.
- Non-means tested cash benefits totalled 59.0 per
cent of the EU’s social outlay.
- The highest share of the EU’s social spending went
towards Old Age benefits (40.2 per cent), more than thirty times higher than
the lowest share, being benefits reported under the Housing function (1.3 per
cent).
- More than a quarter of the EU’s population (262 persons
per 1,000 population) were obtaining a pension in 2019, a marginal decrease
from 2018 (267 persons per 1,000 population).
- The largest rate of pensioners was in Lithuania (33.4
per cent of its population) while Malta recorded the lowest ratio (18.2 per
cent). Furthermore, Malta also reported the biggest decline in pensioners, with
2.1 per cent less persons being in receipt of a pension in 2019.
Social security
beneficiaries by locality
- There
were 170,259 persons in Malta and Gozo, 33.0 per cent of the total population,
that received at least one type of social security benefit in 2020.
- Women
amounted to 55.8 per cent of the total beneficiaries.
- Among
the six districts, recipient shares ranged from 405 persons per 1,000
population in Southern Harbour district to 277 persons per 1,000 population registered
in the Northern district.
- At
locality level, Floriana (448 persons per 1,000 population) witnessed the
largest proportion of social benefit recipients, while, Is-Swieqi contained the
smallest share (164 persons per 1,000 population).
- Old age benefits reported
the highest number of recipients, amounting to 71,386, or 138 persons per 1,000
population. Beneficiaries ranged from 29.9 per cent of residents in L-Imdina to
7.4 per cent of persons residing in Is-Swieqi.
- At 1.6 per cent of Malta’s population, unemployment
benefits registered the lowest percentage of beneficiaries. Bormla (42
persons per 1,000 population) and San Lawrenz (4 persons per 1,000 population)
recorded the largest and lowest beneficiaries-to-population ratio, respectively.
- There were 48,702 individuals in receipt of a family benefit in 2020, equivalent to 9.4 per cent of the total
population. Ix-Xgħajra reported the highest ratio as 15.0 per cent if its
residents obtained a family type benefit. This was in direct contrast to
Tas-Sliema that recorded the lowest proportion of family recipients (3.6 per
cent of its population).
- In 2020, sickness beneficiaries totalled 6.9 per cent of the population in
Malta and Gozo. Beneficiaries ranged from 15.8 per cent of total residents in
Bormla to 1.5 per cent in Is-Swieqi.
- Bormla also reported the highest share of social
exclusion benefit recipients, with 13.2 per cent of its residents in
receipt of these types of benefits. This was close to three times higher than
the national average (4.6 per cent) and over 26 times more than the lowest
ratio witnessed in Is-Swieqi (0.5 per cent).
- There were 33 persons for every 1,000
individuals who were in receipt of a survivors benefit during 2020, with
Ħal Luqa (78 persons per 1,000 population) recording the highest share of
beneficiaries. In contrast, the lowest reported ratio was found in Is-Swieqi (13
persons per 1,000 population).
- There were 9,448 persons, or 1.8 per cent of the
population, obtaining a disability
benefit in 2020. Ix-Xewkija
(48 persons per 1,000 population) reported the highest share of beneficiaries, with
the lowest amount reported in Is-Swieqi (5 persons per 1,000 population).
- In 2020, beneficiaries living on the Maltese
Islands averaged €6,032 in benefit income.
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