Basque retirees get the biggest pensions in Spain, topping the national average by more than 300 euros. But growth in Euskadi is now among the slowest, raising new questions as the number of pensioners keeps rising.
Basque pensioners still get the largest payments in Spain. The average contributory pension in Euskadi now stands at 1,686 euros, which is 311 euros more than the national average. But new data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration shows a slowdown. Pension growth in the Basque Country has dropped to just 4.13% over the past year. Only Asturias saw a lower rate.
Other regions, like Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha, saw their average pensions rise by 5.75% and 5.26%. In Euskadi, increases have barely kept up with inflation. The national average pension went up by 4.66%. That leaves the Basque Country behind most of Spain, even though it started from a higher base. Asturias is even further behind, with just a 3.77% rise.
In September 2026, Spain's Social Security allocated a record 14.498 billion euros for monthly contributory pension payments, marking a 6.3% increase year-on-year.
Retirement pensions in the Basque Country stand out. The average monthly payout is now 1,910 euros. That is 334 euros more than the Spanish average of 1,576 euros. Nearly 400,000 Basques get these retirement benefits. The number of recipients grew by almost 2% in one year, adding 7,750 people. This jump is tied to the region’s aging population.
But the yearly growth in Basque retirement pensions is among the weakest in Spain. Over the past year, the average retirement pension in Euskadi rose by just 73 euros. That matches the increase in Castilla-La Mancha, but falls short of the 4.47% national average. Only Asturias and Madrid had lower or similar growth, at 3.49% and 3.92%. Pension costs in the Basque Country are now close to a symbolic mark, with total monthly spending at 999.22 million euros for 592,800 benefits.
Other types of pensions also show the Basque lead in amounts. Widowhood pensions in Euskadi now go to over 132,000 people, averaging 1,171 euros a month. More than 43,000 people get permanent disability pensions, each drawing 1,591 euros on average. Fedea notes that these two types can pay out up to three times more than what was paid in. Orphan and family support pensions are smaller, but still reach 662 and 1,042 euros monthly for nearly 15,800 and 2,300 recipients.
According to Fedea, the pension reforms of 2021 and 2023 have improved the sustainability of Spain's pension system by increasing revenues and lowering the replacement rate, though debates continue about the intergenerational distribution of costs. Analysts warn that Spain faces one of the highest and potentially fastest-growing pension expenditure burdens in Europe, with projections for 2050 indicating a significant rise in the share of pensions in GDP.
Across Spain, the number of pensioners keeps climbing. This month, Social Security paid out more than 10.5 million pensions to 9.5 million people. In the Basque Country, 528,718 people are on the rolls, since some get more than one benefit. National pension spending is now close to 15.5 billion euros a month. The number of new retirement pensions is also rising. Up to August, there were 247,161 new registrations. Of these, 11.6% were delayed retirements, a figure 6.8 points higher than in 2019. This reflects new incentives to postpone retirement and recent legal changes around early retirement.
In Euskadi, July figures show 3,233 new pension registrations, with 2,022 for retirement. The number of pension terminations was lower, at 2,134, including 1,329 retirements. That means a net increase of over 1,000 benefits, with nearly 800 of them being retirements. This trend is pushing pension costs higher, especially since new retirees get more than those leaving the system. The average new retirement pension is 1,964 euros, which is 265 euros above the average for those whose pensions ended. For all types of pensions, the gap between new and ended benefits is 253 euros.
In the past year, the total cost of Basque pensions has gone up by 51.3 million euros, or 5.4%. This is due to both more recipients and the revaluation of contributory benefits. This year’s increase was set at 2.7%, matching the consumer price index between December 2024 and November of the previous year.
As the number of pensioners grows and the gap between new and old benefits widens, questions about the system’s sustainability are getting louder. The Basque Country leads in pension amounts but lags in growth. This reflects the wider demographic and fiscal pressures facing Spain. For those following the link between social policy and economic strain, the situation brings to mind earlier reported cases where vulnerable groups hit the limits of the welfare state. The Basque model is still the benchmark for pension generosity, but its slow growth shows a system under growing pressure to adapt to an aging population and rising costs.
