Albania and Turkey find themselves at the bottom of the rankings in Europe when it comes to budgetary allocations for social protection, encompassing expenses for pensions, economic aid, and unemployment.<\/p>\n
According to Eurostat data for the year 2021, Albania devoted 12.8% of its GDP to social protection, with only Turkey trailing behind at 10.7% of its GDP dedicated to this sector.<\/p>\n
In the European Union, the average allocation from national budgets for social protection stands at 28.7% of GDP.<\/p>\n
Leading the European nations in social commitment is France, where social protection expenditures surpassed 33.4% of GDP in 2021. Austria follows closely in second place with 32.3% of GDP, trailed by Italy and Germany, both at 30.6%.<\/p>\n
Within the region, Albania continues to fare poorly. Bosnia, Serbia, and North Macedonia allocate 18-19% of their GDP to social protection.<\/p>\n
Consequently, payments for pensions and economic aid in Albania lag behind those in the region and Europe.<\/p>\n
The meager social protection payments in Albania are attributed to the country\u2019s lower budgetary revenue collection relative to its GDP.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to the next year, the budget is anticipated to grow by 3.7% compared to the expectations for this year. However, revenues are projected to decline to 27.7% of GDP, down from the expected 28.1% for this year.<\/p>\n
While Albania collects less than 27% of its GDP in revenue, the regional average hovers around 25%, and in the EU, it stands at approximately 45%.<\/p>\n
Limited fiscal capacities constrain support for vulnerable segments of the population. For nearly a decade, Albania has failed to make progress in boosting revenues in relation to its GDP, despite carrying the highest fiscal burden in the region and refraining from applying differentiated VAT for basic goods.<\/p>\n
International financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have consistently urged the Albanian Government to reallocate resources to assist those in need, particularly as they have been the most impacted by recent crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation resulting from the conflict in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Pensioners and individuals receiving economic aid constitute the most affected segments of society due to inflation, resulting in their substantial contributions to budgetary revenues over the past year.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the EU\u2019s total spending on social protection benefits reached 4.1 trillion euros or 28.7% of GDP. Notably, around 45% of the EU’s total spending on social protection benefits in 2021 was allocated to pension schemes, with health care closely following at 30%.<\/p>\n
Throughout the period from 2011 to 2021, the most rapid expansion of spending on social protection benefits was observed in the areas of housing and social exclusion, followed by functions related to illness and health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Albania and Turkey find themselves at the bottom of the rankings in Europe when it comes to budgetary allocations for social protection, encompassing expenses for pensions, economic aid, and unemployment. According to Eurostat data for the year 2021, Albania devoted 12.8% of its GDP to social protection, with only Turkey trailing behind at 10.7% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":62749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[270,898,1500,3004,150,243,151,5188,728,1212,326],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n