Spain's GDP surpasses that of its surroundings, but quality of life indicators remain below 2008. Household disposable income did not recover pre-crisis levels until just a few quarters ago.
The Spanish economy has accumulated four years of robust growth, with data from the INE surpassing that of the main eurozone countries. However, indicators of citizen well-being have not kept pace, as reported by abc.es. The Multisectoral Quality of Life Indicator, an experimental survey by the INE, shows that in 2024, the latest available year, material living conditions had not recovered to pre-pandemic levels and were even below those of 2008.
This indicator, initially promoted by Nadia Calviño as an alternative to GDP, is constructed with 60 variables. Among them are household income, satisfaction with one's economic situation, housing, and the ability to cope with unexpected expenses. The disposable income of families did not exceed the situation prior to the great financial crisis until just a few quarters ago. Perceptions of work-life balance, security, and governance quality also remain stagnant.
“Spain is today a better country than it was eight years ago,” has repeated the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez.
The rising cost of basic supplies partly explains this dissonance. Food, gas, electricity, and fuel have seen increases of up to 40% in the shopping basket. Wages have not compensated for this increase, and the tax burden on payrolls has grown through the Income Tax and social contributions.
The Government has allocated more than 15 billion euros to shields against inflation, without General Budgets assigning them. The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility and the Bank of Spain have pointed out that these aids lacked sufficient targeting and ended up in population groups that did not need them.
The 160 billion euros in European funds from the Recovery Mechanism have also not yielded the expected results. Spain renounced 60 billion in cheap financing due to its inability to manage these resources, and the objectives for mobilising private investment and improving potential growth were not met. The Executive closes the legislature without having approved or presented a single General State Budget project, something unprecedented in democracy.
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