The welfare state in Madrid and Catalonia “is collapsing due to lack of investment”. Despite the fact that the health and social crisis caused by covid has shown the importance of spending on essential public services of health, education and social services, the reality is that the specific weight of social policies is decreasing, says José Manuel Ramírez Navarro, president of the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services. And this, despite the fact that as a result of the management of the pandemic, social expenditure increased to 141,432 million euros in the liquidated budget for the year 2021.
Madrid is once again the community that invests the least in these essential elements for Spain’s welfare state. Spending per inhabitant barely reaches 2,400 euros, about 1,500 euros less than Navarre, 1,300 less than the Basque Country or 1,230 less than Extremadura, the regions that spend the most per person. Catalonia is behind those from Madrid, with 2,789 euros per inhabitant. All the autonomous communities exceed 3,000 euros in social expenses, except for the two mentioned and Murcia, Andalusia, the Canaries and the Balearic Islands.
The case of Catalonia is even bloodier, because it is the only community that has not recovered the budget for social policies prior to the cuts of 2010, with the financial crisis. In fact, it invests around six euros less per inhabitant than in 2009. On the other hand, Valencia is the one that has increased the most per inhabitant since that year (with an increase of 855 euros per person).
This is indicated by the report Social investment by communities, drawn up by the entity chaired by Ramírez with data extracted from the budgets of the communities, in which it highlights that the increase in spending on social policies managed by the autonomous communities has only been 13.5% between 2019 and 2022 (7.9% in health, 17.7% in education and 28.8% in social services), while the increase in spending on the rest of the policies to be 41% in that same period (three times more).
Although the evolution of spending on social policies since 2009 has been very different in the various communities. All, except Catalonia, have exceeded the social expenditure per inhabitant in 2022 that they had then, led by Valencia, Navarra and Asturias.
What is happening in Catalonia? Simply that it has invested less than the rest of the communities in these games during the last decade than the rest. Even than Madrid, despite the fact that it is the region that invests the least in the welfare state. The Madrid region has increased spending on social policies by 168 euros. Well below the average, but at least it has increased it. The increase of more than 800 euros per inhabitant of investment in Valencia, Navarra and Asturias is particularly significant.
The part that has suffered the most is that of Catalan healthcare. And that between 2009 and 2022 investment in healthcare grew by 8,602.6 million, 13.4% more than in 2009. But Catalonia is the only community that reduced spending on healthcare (an enormous 12%) . The next ones that have invested the least are Aragon and Madrid, although they have increased it, by 3.16% and 5.74%, well below the average, but an increase after all.
In the 2022 budgets, Catalonia is at the bottom of the regions that allocate the least percentage to healthcare, 23.8%, well below the average (30.8%) and far from what, for example, Castile and Leon (38.4%). In expenditure per inhabitant, Catalonia allocates 1,362.50 euros, just ahead of Madrid (1,248.97 euros). A fact: from 2009 to 2022, Catalonia has invested 1,478.7 million euros less, which has resulted in a reduction in spending per inhabitant of 266 euros. No other community has experienced this reality.
In terms of education, Catalonia does not fare well either. In 2022, the Government allocated 17.6% of its budget to this matter, very close to Navarre (16.9%). The Spanish average is 20.6%. Spending per inhabitant stood at 1,005 euros, far from the Basque Country (1,426) or Navarre (1,342), but a little more than 200 euros per inhabitant than Madrid.
In the third leg of the welfare state, social services, the situation has improved in recent years. But the bad situation from which it started, as a result of the sharp decline in investment in the years following the financial crisis, is taking its toll. “To build costs a lot, and to destroy, little”, sums up Ramírez.
In 2022, 7.2% of the Catalan Government’s budget is allocated to services, slightly below the national average (7.4%). Spending per inhabitant is 413.42 euros, above the Spanish average (372.23 euros), but far from Navarre, which invests the most (670 euros).
Precisely, Ramírez went to Parliament a year ago to expose the harsh reality of dependency in Catalonia. Before the Social Rights Commission, Ramírez presented data that painted a discouraging picture: Catalonia is the community with the longest waiting list in all of Spain for dependent people who, despite having recognized the right to have assistance, do not they receive: 71,017 people, 28.2% of the total dependents, more than double the Spanish average, which stands at 12.7%.
The worst figure, without a doubt, is that of those who have a right recognized that they will never enjoy: every 40 minutes a Catalan dependent dies on the waiting list. Twenty-one every day, 7,827 a year (data from 2021) die waiting for the benefit, and about 3,000 waiting for the assessment that would open the door to the hope of having a help service. The increase in budgets, in addition to the new grants approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs, could have started to exacerbate this serious situation, explain the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services. We will have to wait for the new data.
