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In 2021, €59.1 billion was spent on social protection in Ireland, similar to the high level of spending in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The largest areas of expenditure were in sickness/healthcare (€23.6 billion) and old age (€15.9 billion); together they accounted for 69% of the total spend.
Expenditure on unemployment dropped in 2021 by €1.2 billion to €6.1 billion.
Ireland spent €11,348 per person on social protection in 2021.
Social protection in Ireland is predominantly financed by Government funding (63%), followed by employers’ social contributions (24%).
The largest social protection scheme in Ireland is the Public Health scheme which accounts for €21 billion (35.5%) of social protection expenditure.
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting, Ciara O’Shea, Statistician in the Government Accounts Compilation and Outputs Division, said: “Social protection is a set of interventions where the objective is to reduce social and economic risk and vulnerability, and to alleviate extreme poverty and deprivation. Social protection is typically grouped into eight categories: sickness/healthcare; disability; old age; survivors; family/children; unemployment; housing and social exclusion. This publication brings together data from a variety of sources to estimate this expenditure in Ireland from 2000 to 2021.
Main Results
Social protection expenditure was €59.1 billion in 2021, based on preliminary estimates. This represents 14% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or 25% of Modified Gross National Income (GNI*). The €1.2 billion increase on 2020, reflects the continued support to households during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in 2021 the main increases were in the areas of sickness/healthcare (+€1.6 billion) and old age (+€682 million) while spending on unemployment supports reduced (-€1.2 billion).
International Comparison
Ireland spent €11,348 per inhabitant in 2021 on social protection. Of those countries that had reported 2021 data at the time of publication, Bulgaria had the lowest per inhabitant expenditure at €1,888 while the highest was in Luxembourg at €24,278. Average expenditure in the European Union on social protection was €9,105 per person in 2020, up 8% on 2019.
Social Protection Schemes
In Ireland, social protection receipts and expenditure is organised into seven schemes: -
The Public Health Scheme is the largest scheme in terms of expenditure (€21 billion or 35.5% of the total), followed by the Social Insurance Fund (€14.9 billion or 25.2%), DSP Voted Expenditure (€10.4 billion or 17.6%), Government Employment (€4.9bn or 8.4%) and Private Occupational Pensions (€4.9 billion or 8.3%). The remaining two schemes are small in comparison: the housing schemes accounted for €2.1 billion or 3.6% of expenditure while the spend on the Child Protection scheme was €842 million or 1.4% of expenditure.“