Social Security pays 1,254.41 euros to 1,061,553 beneficiaries of the Permanent Disability pension

Almost 1.07 million people in Spain receive a pension for Permanent Disability and together they add up to nearly 1,331 million euros per month on the payroll according to the latest published data. The statistics published by the National Social Security Institute (INSS) say that of the 1,061,553 beneficiaries as of April 1, 2026, they receive an average pension of 1,254.41 euros per month. With these data, the pension is close to 9% of the total contributory expenditure, being the third largest item and only behind retirement and widowhood.

If we look at the annual data, the disbursement is around 15,970 million euros, a figure equivalent to around 1% of Spain’s GDP. In the month of April as a whole, the system distributed more than 10.47 million contributory pensions among 9.47 million people, with an average global pension close to 1,368 euros.

How the permanent disability pension is distributed by province

The Permanent Disability map reproduces the Spanish industrial geography quite faithfully. A pensioner in Gipuzkoa receives an average of 1,624.16 euros per month, while in Badajoz the average amount remains at 1,079.22 euros. There is a 544.94 euro difference between two provinces in the same system, a gap of 50.5% that is explained by the contributions accumulated during the working life prior to the recognition of the disability.

As with pensions, the five best-paid provinces belong to the northeast quadrant (Gipuzkoa, Álava, Bizkaia, Navarra and Asturias) and the five lowest-paid provinces are concentrated in Extremadura, inland Andalusia and the less urban Castilla-La Mancha. Only five provinces in the entire country exceed 1,400 euros per month on average and all of them belong to the north of the peninsula.

The five provinces with the highest pension

• Gipuzkoa, €1,624.16 (13,128 beneficiaries)
• Araba/Álava, €1,579.97 (6,884 beneficiaries)
• Bizkaia, €1,569.15 (23,211 beneficiaries)
• Navarra, €1,489.30 (10,639 beneficiaries)
• Asturias, €1,408.25 (28,684 beneficiaries)

The five provinces with the lowest pension

• Badajoz, €1,079.22 (20,845 beneficiaries)
• Cáceres, €1,093.65 (11,032 beneficiaries)
• Jaén, €1,099.72 (23,434 beneficiaries)
• Cuenca, €1,106.98 (6,755 beneficiaries)
• Córdoba, €1,107.49 (18,036 beneficiaries)

As with pensions, the five best-paid provinces belong to the northeast quadrant (Gipuzkoa, Álava, Bizkaia, Navarra and Asturias), while the five lowest-paid provinces are concentrated in Extremadura, inland Andalusia and the less urban Castilla-La Mancha. The key data to take into account about the benefit and its beneficiaries are the following:

• Total IP beneficiaries in force (1,061,553)
• Average Permanent Disability Pension (1,254.41 euros/month)
• Estimated monthly expenditure on IP (around 1,331 million euros)
• Gap between the province with the highest and lowest pension (544.94 euros/month)
• Beneficiaries concentrated in Andalusia, Catalonia and the Valencian Community (around 47% of the national total)
• Average pension of the General Regime (1,275.21 euros)
• Average pension for the self-employed regime (977.74 euros)
• Revaluation applied in 2026 (2.7%)

The average permanent disability pension

The 1,254.41 euros per month that a Permanent Disability beneficiary receives on average places this benefit in an intermediate position within the system. There are about 315 euros below the average retirement (1,569.7 euros in April) and they are more than 280 euros above widowhood (973.9 euros).

The pension is not calculated based on the severity of the illness or injury that causes the disability, but rather based on the worker’s regulatory base, their years of contributions and the degree recognized by the INSS or by the social jurisdiction. That is why the same clinical picture can translate into very different amounts depending on the previous work history of each beneficiary.

Within the service itself, the range is very wide. The difference between the best-paid grade and the worst exceeds 2,025 euros per month, which gives an idea of ​​the extent to which the amount depends on whether the file fits into one modality or another.

• Major Disability (€2,591.69/month and 35,198 beneficiaries). It is the highest amount in the system because it incorporates a specific supplement to cover the care of a third person, essential when the pensioner cannot take care of himself in essential acts of daily life.
• Absolute Permanent Disability (€1,529.68/month and 340,326 beneficiaries). Recognition implies that the worker is disqualified from any profession or trade, not just the one he or she had been performing.
• IPT qualified at 75% (€1,232.14/month and 336,492 beneficiaries). It is applied from the age of 55 when circumstances arise (age, lack of preparation or characteristics of the local labor market) that make it difficult to find employment other than usual.
• IPT not qualified at 55% (€874.74/month and 347,748 beneficiaries). It is the most widespread modality and the only one that allows the collection of the pension to be made compatible with a job in an activity different from the usual profession.
• SOVI disability (€566.44/month and 1,789 beneficiaries). It comes from the old Mandatory Old-Age and Disability Insurance, prior to the creation of modern Social Security in 1967, and is practically in demographic extinction.

Permanent disability by autonomous communities

Andalusia once again appears as the first reservoir of disability pensioners in all of Spain. It concentrates 228,251 beneficiaries as of April 1, 2026, one in every five IP pensions in the country (21.5%). The regional average, however, remains at 1,170.09 euros, about 84 euros below the national average. The monthly investment of the system in Andalusian territory is close to 267 million euros.

Seville dominates the internal account with 65,120 beneficiaries and an average amount of 1,147.42 euros, although Malaga is the Andalusian province with the highest pension (1,232.43 euros for 33,406 pensioners). Above the Andalusian aggregate are Catalonia (€1,371.84), Madrid (€1,356.22) and Aragón (€1,307.88), communities with clearly higher average contribution bases.

The Community of Madrid

Madrid is clearly moving above the national average and is consolidating itself as the fourth community with the most Permanent Disability beneficiaries. As of April 1, 2026, the region had a total of 99,205 pensioners, with an average amount of 1,356.22 euros per month. They are 101.81 euros more than the state average (1,254.41 euros), a positive differential of 8.1% that connects with the concentration of qualified services, the financial sector and public administration in the capital.

Madrid is also the third best-paid community in the country in this benefit, only behind the Basque Country (€1,587.58) and Navarra (€1,489.30), and surpasses the next neighboring community, Aragón (€1,307.88), by almost 22 euros. The estimated monthly investment of the system in Madrid territory is around 134.6 million euros, around 10.1% of national spending on IP despite concentrating only 9.3% of the beneficiaries.

The detail by modalities within the region reinforces this image of higher than average pensions. The Great Disability in Madrid reaches 2,922.68 euros per month for 3,651 beneficiaries, the highest amount in all of Spain in this category, even above the three Basque provinces. Absolute Permanent Disability stands at 1,655.00 euros (34,747 pensioners), also above the state average (€1,529.68). At the opposite extreme, the non-qualified IPT at 55% remains at 912.79 euros for 31,475 beneficiaries, a moderate figure in line with the weight of the worker based on the average contribution.

At the state level, the Madrid amount is below the Basque Country (€1,587.58) and Navarra (€1,489.30), practically tied with Catalonia (€1,371.84), and above Cantabria (€1,305.24), Aragón (€1,307.88) or Castilla y León (€1,246.60).

The communities with the most beneficiaries

• Andalusia (228,251 beneficiaries, €1,170.09 on average)
• Catalonia (169,122 beneficiaries, €1,371.84)
• Comunitat Valenciana (104,533 beneficiaries, €1,198.22)
• Madrid (99,205 beneficiaries, €1,356.22)
• Galicia (86,040 beneficiaries, €1,139.83)
• Canary Islands (61,767 beneficiaries, €1,197.91)
• Castilla y León (51,605 beneficiaries, €1,246.60)
• Castilla-La Mancha (49,762 beneficiaries, €1,161.77)
• Basque Country (43,223 beneficiaries, €1,587.58)
• Murcia (32,881 beneficiaries, €1,142.14)

Permanent Disability in the entire pension system

Permanent Disability represents close to 10% of the total contributory pensions in force in April 2026. The proportion of expenditure, below 9%, reflects that the average IP pension is behind the retirement pension, the benefit that continues to account for almost three out of every four euros in the system. For a significant portion of disability pensioners, however, this benefit is the only stable source of income for years, in many cases until reaching ordinary retirement age.

The revaluation approved for 2026 was 2.7%, aligned with the evolution of the average CPI between December 2024 and November 2025, but the system’s average pension grows at a rate close to 4.5% year-on-year due to the effect caused by the substitution between additions and exits of pensioners with more recent and higher contributions. In practice, this means that the total IP payroll will continue to strain Social Security accounts as long as the gap between the contributory regimes remains open. The distance between the pensioner in the Basque Country with 1,587 euros and the average self-employed person with 977 is hardly going to narrow without touching minimum contribution bases in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers.