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 2022 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 2022. It is worth noting that this series begins in 2004 for most of the datasets.
1. Social Security – Number of sickness benefit recipients increases by 15.8%
1.1. Pensioners
At the end of 2022, there were 66 527 active Social Security pensioners in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM), accounting for 26.3% of the resident population. Among this group, 63.6% received old-age pensions, 27.3% survivor's pensions, and 9.1% disability pensions. Compared to 2021, the number of pensioners remained largely unchanged, with a decrease in the number of recipients of disability pensions (-1.9%) and survivor's pensions (-0.7%), but an increase in the number of old-age pension recipients (+0.6%).
The annual mean value paid to Social Security pensioners increased by 5.2% between 2021 and 2022, reaching 5 393 euros. This increase was the result of higher average pension amounts for old-age pensions (+5.6%), survivor's pensions (+4.3%), and disability pensions (+3.1%). In 2022, the mean paid value in old-age pensions amounted to 6 297 euros, surpassing the average value of pensions for disability (5 739 euros) and survivor's pensions (3,200 euros).
The total value paid of the social benefits mentioned above, at the end of 2022, amounted to 372.2 million euros, marking a 5.7% increase from 2021. Out of this amount, 74.0% corresponded to old-age pensions (275.5 million euros), 16.3% to survivor's pensions (60.6 million euros), and 9.7% to disability pensions (36.1 million euros). In the functions under review, compared to 2021, there were positive fluctuations of 6.7% in the value paid of old-age pensions, 4.1% in survivor's pensions, and 1.4% in disability pensions.
1.2. Unemployment Benefits
In the reference year, 7 494 persons received unemployment benefits, representing a decrease of 29.6% from the previous year. Among these, 39.9% had not received this benefit in 2021. The distribution of unemployment benefit recipients by sex was 46.3% male and 53.7% female. In terms of age, the age group with the lowest number of recipients was young persons (under 25 years old), accounting for 5.4%. The group with the highest number of recipients included persons aged 55 years old and over, at 28.0%, followed by the groups aged 40 to 49 years (23.1%) and 30 to 39 years (20.1%).
In 2022, the average duration of unemployment benefit receipt was 181 days, lower than in 2021 (188 days), with the average value of this type of benefit hovering around 3 063 euros (-1.8% compared to the previous year).
1.3. Family Benefits
Regarding the main family benefits from Social Security, in 2022, there was an increase in the number of recipients of child and youth family allowance (+1.9%) and a decrease in the number of recipients of the third-party care allowance (-3.3%).
As for income support for social inclusion, around 6 500 persons received this type of social benefit, which is a 13.1% decrease from 2021, with 47.1% of them being male. By age group, it was observed that 35.1% of the recipients were persons under 25 years old. The amount processed for this social benefit was 7.5 million euros, marking an 18.3% decrease from 2021.
In 2022, 14.3 million euros were processed for the 4 065 recipients of the inclusion social benefit, with the age group between 30 and 39 years having the highest number of recipients (1 059; 26.1% of the total), followed by the age groups of 55 and older (942; 23.2%) and 40 to 49 years (733; 18.0%).
1.4. Sickness Benefits
Between 2021 and 2022, there was a 31.7% increase in the number of sickness benefit recipients, totalling 15 849 persons in the latter year. The average number of days processed for this type of benefit reached 73 days in 2022, which is 16.1% less than the previous year. The processed values amounted to 24.4 million euros, reflecting a 13.5% increase from 2021.
2. Caixa Geral de Aposentações – Number of system users increased slightly
At the end of 2022, the number of pensioners of the Civil Service Retirement System Scheme in the Autonomous Region of Madeira reached 13,562 (an increase of 222 persons from 2021), with 71.3% being beneficiaries of old-age and disability pensions, and 28.7% receiving survivor's pensions.
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