The state spent over 325 billion RON on social protection in 2024, a record high in the last 10 years

The National Institute of Statistics (INS) published data on Wednesday regarding social protection for 2024, showing a significant increase in both expenditure and revenue in this area.

Social protection expenditure, including the administrative costs of social schemes, totalled 325.723 billion RON, 23.2% more than in 2023. This figure represents 18.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 1.9 percentage points above the previous year's level and the highest percentage recorded in the last decade.

At the same time, social protection revenue reached 323.614 billion RON, an increase of 24.7% compared to 2023, equivalent to 18.4% of GDP (2.1 percentage points more than the previous year).

The INS notes that, although both revenue and expenditure have followed an upward trend over the past ten years, the increase recorded in 2024 was the largest of that period.

Pensions: the primary destination of funds

As in previous years, the largest share of social expenditure went towards elderly people and the healthcare system. Risks related to old age accounted for 47.7% of total social benefit expenditure, whilst spending on sickness and healthcare represented 26%.

The smallest amounts were allocated to supporting people in unemployment and to housing benefits.

Excluding administrative costs and other expenditure, social benefits proper reached 321.659 billion RON in 2024, an increase of 23.8% compared to the previous year, representing 18.3% of GDP (two percentage points above the 2023 level).

Ten-year trends: less for the elderly, more for people with disabilities

Analysing the period 2015–2024, the INS shows that the share of expenditure directed at elderly people gradually declined, from 50.6% in 2015 to 47.7% in 2024.

Expenditure on sickness and healthcare reached its highest levels during the pandemic period — 29.8% in 2019 and 29.1% in 2020 — before falling to 26% in 2024.

Benefits for families and children grew as a proportion compared to 2015, reaching 11.9% over the period 2021–2023, before declining slightly to 11.3% in 2024.

The category covering people with disabilities recorded the most pronounced growth in recent years, reaching 8.5% of total social protection expenditure in 2024 — the highest level across the entire period analysed by the INS.