The Survivors’ function classifies benefits targeting the eligible relatives (specifically, spouse and children) following the death of a family member that typically represented the main breadwinner.
Salient Points
Overview: 2024
During the five-year period analysed, outlay towards Survivors benefits rose by 31.1 per cent, increasing from €165.7 million in 2020 to €217.3 million in 2024.
Social Security Contributory Benefits: 2024
Represented 99.3 per cent of the total Survivors outlay.
Total expenditure rose by €19.9 million from 2023, driven by increases in Survivors’ Pension (€15.5 million) and bonus payments (€4.1 million).
Beneficiaries amounted to 18,122, 1.3 per cent higher than the preceding year.
33 female beneficiaries for every male recipient.
31 claimants of survivors’ benefits for every 1,000 residents in Malta.
The Southern Harbour district reported the highest share (46 recipients per 1,000 population), with the lowest ratio registered in the Northern district (24 recipients per 1,000 population).
Ħal Luqa (9.2 per cent) and San Pawl il-Baħar (1.5 per cent) reported the highest and lowest ratios of beneficiaries-to-population, respectively.
Service Pensions: 2024
€1.5 million in payments towards Widows Pensions, a marginal increase of 2.9 per cent from 2023.
Number of recipients totalled 1,569, of which 99.7 per cent were women.
Tables
Maps
Methodological Notes
Social Security Contributory Benefits
1. Expenditure towards social security benefits is collected through the Treasury’s Corporate Financial Management Solution (CFMS). On the other hand, Service Pensions outlay is obtained from the Treasury’s Annual Financial Report.
2. Beneficiaries’ data is obtained from the Department of Social Security’s (DSS) Unique Beneficiaries Report.
3. As beneficiaries may be in receipt of multiple benefits simultaneously, aggregates may not necessarily be equivalent to the sum of the corresponding benefits as these recipients will only be counted once.
4. Persons in receipt of a contributory pension or Orphans’ Allowance are also eligible to receive the special weekly bonus of €4.66 per week and the statutory bonus of €135.10 payable every six months. As bonus payments are solely provided as aggregates, the proportion allocated to claimants of these benefits is based on their corresponding outlay:
5. Further to the bonuses listed in point 4, any person in receipt of a contributory pension is also eligible to receive the COLA (2024 weekly rate: €12.81). For each reference year, the total COLA is provided and then apportioned between each type of pension by using the following equation:
Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households
6. Grief support for widows/ers, and their children, dealing with the loss of their loved ones, is an example of services classified within the Survivors function.
