Covid, welfare spending grows to 632 billion in 2021, +56 billion over 2019

The Covid-19 crisis has led to a generalized increase in all welfare spending, including the 3 ‘traditional’ pillars (Health, Social Policies, Welfare) and Education: in 2021 it will reach an estimated total of around 632 billion euros, with an increase of about 6 billion euros compared to 2020, the year in which the increase was equal to 50 billion euros compared to 2019. This is what emerges from the 2021 edition of the Report of the Think Tank ‘Welfare, Italy’ supported by Unipol Gruppo with the collaboration of The European House – Ambrosetti, and with the support of a scientific committee made up of Veronica De Romanis, Giuseppe Guzzetti, Walter Ricciardi and Stefano Scarpetta. The crisis, according to ‘Welfare, Italy’, has not significantly altered the breakdown of expenditure, confirming the imbalance of the pension component (49%) which, however, shows a decrease of 2.3 percentage points compared to the 2019 values, settling on lower values also in 2009 (49.7%). The resources of the NRP, it is underlined, outline a historic opportunity for the relaunch of Italy and for an evolutionary adaptation of its welfare system towards a precision model. Considering the total of funds conveyed through the Next Generation Eu Recovery and Resilience Facility, Italy is the first beneficiary country of the instrument for a total of 191.5 billion euros: ‘Welfare, Italy’ estimates that the NRP will allocate to welfare no less than 41.5 billion euros, equal to 22% of the Plan budget, thanks to the various welfare actions envisaged in Missions 4 (Education and Research), 5 (Inclusion and Cohesion) and 6 (Health).