NOTE: [On 22 January 2026, the news release and the time series were revised due to a correction of data on unemployment benefit recipients for the period 2021–2023 by the source entity.]

DREM updates the times series on Social Protection with 2023 data

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) is releasing today, on its website, the Time Series on Social Protection, updated with data from the year 2023.

1. Social Security – Number of sickness benefit recipients increases, while the number of recipients of unemployment benefits decreases

• Pensioners

At the end of 2023, there were 67 306 active Social Security pensioners in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM), accounting for 26.2% of the resident population. Among this group, 64.0% received old-age pensions, 27.0% survivor's pensions, and 9.0% disability pensions. Compared to 2022, there was a 1.2% increase in the number of pensioners, as a result of the increase in the number of old-age pensions (+1.9%) and survivor's pensions (+0.2%). However, a decrease in the number of disability pension recipients was observed (-0.7%).

The annual mean value paid to Social Security pensioners increased by 4.5% between 2022 and 2023, reaching 5 633 euros. This increase was similar in survivor's pensions (+4.8%), old-age pensions (+4.2%), and disability pensions (+3.5%). In 2023, the mean paid value in old-age pensions amounted to 6 563 euros, surpassing the average value of pensions for disability (5 937 euros) and survivor's pensions (3 352 euros).

The total value paid of the social benefits mentioned above, at the end of 2023, amounted to 391.1 million euros, marking a 5.1% increase from 2022. Out of this amount, 74.4% corresponded to old-age pensions (291.0 million euros), 16.2% to survivor's pensions (63.2 million euros), and 9.4% to disability pensions (36.9 million euros). In the functions under review, compared to 2022, there were positive changes of 5.6% in the value paid of old-age pensions, 4.3% in survivor's pensions, and 2.3% in disability pensions.

• Unemployment Benefits

In the reference year, 6 605 persons received unemployment benefits, representing an 11.9% decrease from the previous year. Of these recipients, 45.9% had not received this benefit in 2022. By sex, 45.7% of the recipients were male and 54.3% were female. In terms of age, the age group with the lowest number of recipients was young persons (under 25 years old), accounting for 5.8%. The group with the highest number of recipients included persons aged 55 years or older, at 30.3%, followed by the groups aged 40 to 49 years (21.3%) and 30 to 39 years (20.3%).

In 2023, the average duration of unemployment benefit receipt was 177 days, lower than in 2022 (181 days), with the average value of this type of benefit hovering around 3 165 euros (+3.3% compared to the previous year).

• Family Benefits

Regarding the main family benefits from Social Security, in 2023, there was a decrease in the number of recipients of child and youth family allowance (-2.7%) and an increase in the number of recipients of initial parental benefits (+4.9%).

As for income support for social inclusion, around 5 167 persons received this type of social benefit (-20.8% than in 2022), with 46.7% of them being male. By age group, it was observed that 32.8% of the recipients were persons under 25 years old and 31.1% were persons aged 55 and older. The amount processed for this social benefit was 6.6 million euros, marking a 10.9% decrease from 2022.

In 2023, 17.2 million euros were processed for the 4 466 recipients of the inclusion social benefit (+20,9% and +9,9% compared to the previous year, respectively), with the age group between 30 and 39 years having the highest number of recipients (1 227; 27.5% of the total), followed by the age groups of 55 and older (976; 21.9%) and 40 to 49 years (771; 17.3%).

• Sickness Benefits

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a 15.1% increase in the number of sickness benefit recipients, totalling 18 241 persons in the latter year. The average number of days processed for this type of benefit reached 74 days in 2023, which represents an increase of 1 day compared to the previous year. The processed values amounted to 30.3 million euros, reflecting a 24.2% increase from 2022.

2. Caixa Geral de Aposentações – Number of system users increased

With regard to Caixa Geral de Aposentações, at the end of 2023, the number of pensioners of the Civil Service Retirement System Scheme in the Autonomous Region of Madeira reached 13,979 (an increase of 417 persons from 2022), with 71.6% being beneficiaries of old-age and disability pensions, and 28.4% receiving survivor's pensions.

For more information, please click on:

• Time series

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