La Jornada: Of every 100 pesos spent, 17.6 are for pensions: SHCP

During the first four months of the year, public spending on pensions reached 559,789.5 million pesos, practically 17.6 pesos out of every 100 spent in the period, reported the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).

A country that international organizations, such as the World Bank, still consider young, but with a fertility rate that has fallen below the minimum to ensure the replacement of its population, so far in 2026, has one of its main spending responsibilities in pensions.

In the first third of the year, disbursement on pensions exceeded that of health by 54.5 percent, that of education by 84.2 percent, and that of environmental protection by 9,877.5 percent, according to the functional classification of programmable expenditure, published by the SHCP.

Pensions, being part of the State’s obligations as rights acquired by workers, cannot be an adjustment item in public spending. Hence, it is one of the major concepts that increases in a period of “fiscal consolidation,” according to Treasury reports.

In the period from January to April, the public sector spent 559 thousand 789.5 million pesos on pensions, 6.8 percent more in real terms – discounting the effect of inflation on the value of money – than the 503 thousand 5.7 million pesos that this concept consumed in the first third of last year.

In the same period, total public spending in the country increased 1.4 percent, driven by the area of ​​social development, which increased 10.9 percent and which includes programs such as the universal pension for older adults.

Pensions “are a present fiscal pressure that competes directly with other uses of the budget, such as health, education and public investment,” according to an analysis by the Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (CIEP).

In a report from the beginning of this year, the CIEP highlights that the fiscal issue must be reviewed, since based on the 2026 Federal Expenditure Budget, public spending on pensions will exceed 6 percent of the gross domestic product, almost a quarter of total net spending and 40 percent of tax revenues.

“Pensions concentrate the impact of the rapid process of demographic aging that the country is going through. Every year there are more older adults who live longer and receive pensions for longer periods. Without changes in the rules of the pension system, this dynamic implies an automatic growth in spending,” he warned.