Plus 2.3 percent – social spending hit a new high in 2021

“In the second Corona year, spending amounting to almost a third of Austria’s economic output flowed into social affairs,” said Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria. Although the social quota decreased last year, at 32.8 percent it was still at a significantly higher level than in previous years. By way of comparison: in the economic and financial crisis of 2009, the social quota was 29.6 percent, in 2019 it was 29.3 percent.

A comparison of the past 30 years shows that the GDP share of social expenditure in the last decade (2011-2021) averaged 30.2 percent, while it was just over 28 percent in the two previous decades. In 2021, that share was 32.8 percent.

Emergency aid spending increased
Due to the recovery in the labor market, significantly less had to be spent on unemployment benefits (minus 33 percent, 3.7 billion euros) and unemployment benefits (minus 32 percent, 1.6 billion euros) in 2021 than a year earlier. Emergency aid expenditure, on the other hand, rose slightly by 2% to EUR 1.9 billion as a result of the rise in long-term unemployment. Social assistance benefits for the self-employed rose sharply (plus 14 percent, 1.3 billion euros).

The sharp fall in child benefits (minus 15 percent, 3.6 billion euros), mainly caused by the reduction in the Corona child benefit, led to an overall decrease in spending on families and children. Corona recorded an above-average increase compared to 2020 with a plus seven percent in expenditure on health and care.

Benefits for people of retirement age predominate
Some 56 billion euros (plus five percent) and thus a total of 43 percent of the benefits were spent on old-age and company pensions, retirement benefits and care and nursing. Spending on health care for all age groups followed in second place with 34 billion euros.