Almost tripled in 30 years
Social spending goes up and up
April 4, 2024, 7:09 a.m
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Is the complaint about rising social spending just alarmism, as the left thinks? The total of all social benefits now amounts to around 1,179 euros – a tripling compared to 1992. However, compared to economic output, the increase is less drastic.
Spending on social benefits in Germany has almost tripled in the past 30 years to around 1,179 billion euros. However, their share of the gross domestic product (GDP) increased to a very small extent due to the simultaneous economic growth – from 26.3 to 30.5 percent. This emerges from a government response to questions from the Left in the Bundestag.
In 1992, spending on social benefits totaled 448.3 billion euros. This social budget includes, among other things, expenses for pension, health, nursing care and accident insurance, but also basic security, continued payment of wages by employers, pensions, company pension schemes or Riester pensions.
According to the government response, spending on statutory old-age pensions alone rose from 86 billion euros in 1992 to 254 billion euros in 2022. This corresponds to an increase in the share of GDP from 5.1 to 6.6 percent. Expenditure on survivors’ pensions rose from just under 30 to 47 billion euros; their share of domestic product fell from 1.8 to 1.2 percent.
Left-wing politician sees a “spectre”
The Left pension expert Matthias Birkwald, who made the request, emphasized that spending on pensions and social services, measured as a percentage of gross domestic product, had hardly increased in the past 25 years. The numbers made it clear “that the employers’ associations and the conservative and market-radical parties such as the Union, FDP and AfD are wrongly painting a specter on the wall here.” “Over the past 25 years, spending has increased nominally, but in relation to gross domestic product they have only increased slightly and in some cases they have even fallen,” said Birkwald.
“I therefore call on all those panicking about the welfare state to stop their alarmism immediately.” Birkwald appealed to the traffic light coalition not to get involved in such campaigns. “Instead, the SPD, FDP and the Greens should better protect the welfare state from its opponents.”