The welfare state in Madrid and Catalonia “is crumbling due to lack of investment.” Although the health and social crisis caused by Covid demonstrated the importance of spending on essential public services such as health, education and social services, the reality is that the specific weight of social policies decreases, says José Manuel Ramírez Navarro, president of the Association. of Directors and Managers of Social Services. And that, despite the fact that as a result of the management of the pandemic, social spending increased to 141,432 million euros of the liquidated budget for the year 2021.
Madrid is, once again, the community that invests the least in these chapters that are so essential for the Spanish welfare state. Spending per inhabitant barely reaches 2,400 euros, about 1,500 euros less than Navarra, 1,300 less than the Basque Country or 1,230 less than Extremadura, the regions that spend the most per person. Catalonia is ahead of Madrid with 2,789 euros per inhabitant. All the autonomous communities exceed 3,000 euros in social spending, except for the two mentioned and Murcia, Andalusia, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
The case of Catalonia is even more bloody, 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 about six euros less per inhabitant than in 2009. Valencia, on the other hand, is the one that has increased the most per inhabitant since that year (with an increase of 855 euros per inhabitant).
This is indicated by the report Social investment by communities, prepared by the entity chaired by Ramírez, with data extracted from the communities' budgets, which highlights that the increase in spending on social policies managed by the 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 in the rest of the policies was 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 of them, except Catalonia, have exceeded in 2022 the social spending per inhabitant that they had then, led by Valencia, Navarra, and Asturias.
What is happening in Catalonia? It has simply invested less than the rest of the communities in these items in the last decade. Even less than Madrid, despite the fact that it is the region with the least investment in the welfare state. The Madrid region has increased spending on social policies by 168 euros. Well below average, but at least it has increased it. The increase of more than 800 euros per inhabitant in investment in Valencia, Navarra and Asturias is especially significant.
The item that has suffered the most is that of Catalan healthcare. And between 2009 and 2022, investment in healthcare increased by 8,602.6 million, 13.4% more than in 2009. But Catalonia is the only community that reduced its spending on healthcare (a whopping 12% ). The next ones that have invested the least are Aragón and Madrid, which increased it, 3.16% and 5.74%, respectively, well below the average, but an increase nonetheless.
In the 2022 budgets, Catalonia is at the head of the regions that allocate the least percentage of their budget to health, 23.8%, well below the average (30.8%) and very far from what destined, for example, to Castilla y León (38.4%). In spending per inhabitant, Catalonia allocates 1,362.50 euros, only ahead of Madrid (1,248.97 euros). One fact: from 2009 to 2022, Catalonia has invested 1,478.70 million euros less, which has translated into a reduction in spending per inhabitant of 266 euros. This reality has not been experienced by any other community.
Catalonia does not fare well in education either. In 2022, the Government allocated 17.6% of its budget to this matter, very close to Navarra (16.9%), when the Spanish average is 20.6%. Spending per inhabitant stood at 1,005 euros, very far from the Basque Country (1,426) or Navarra (1,342), but just over 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 after the financial crisis, is taking its toll. “Building costs a lot and destroying costs little,” summarizes Ramírez.
In 2022, 7.2% of the 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 Navarra, which invests the most (670 euros).
It was precisely Ramírez who went to Parliament a year ago to expose the harsh reality of dependency in Catalonia. Before the Social Rights commission, Ramírez offered data that painted a bleak picture: Catalonia is the community with the longest waiting list in all of Spain for dependent people who, despite having the right to assistance recognized, do not receive it: 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, was that of those who have a recognized right that they will not be able to enjoy: every 40 minutes a Catalan dependent dies on the waiting list. 21 a day, 7,827 a year (data from 2021) 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, plus the new aid approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs, could have begun to reverse this serious situation, explain the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services. We will have to wait for new data.
