Coordination of social security systems at a glance 2023

EU citizens, exercising their right to free movement, benefit from extensive transnational social protection through the application of the Regulations on the coordination of social security systems. Over the past decade, statistics have been compiled on the implementation of these Coordination Regulations, illustrating their importance for millions of EU citizens in terms of accessing healthcare, pensions, family benefits, maternity and equivalent paternity benefits, and unemployment benefits.

EU citizens, exercising their right to free movement, benefit from extensive transnational social protection through the application of the Regulations on the coordination of social security systems. Over the past decade, statistics have been compiled on the implementation of these Coordination Regulations, illustrating their importance for millions of EU citizens in terms of accessing healthcare, pensions, family benefits, maternity and equivalent paternity benefits, and unemployment benefits.

Overview of some main findings:

•  The number of Portable Documents A1 granted to persons posted to another Member State and to those active in multiple Member States has more than tripled over the past decade, reaching approximately 4.6 million Portable Documents A1 in 2022.

•  On average, the budgetary impact of cross-border healthcare, as facilitated by the Coordination Regulations, amounts to some EUR 4.5 billion, with a temporary drop observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

•  In 2022, around 6.2 million pensions were paid to persons residing in another Member State, equalling an expenditure of approximately EUR 26.6 billion. These numbers are expected to increase in the future, primarily due to the significant increase in intra-EU labour mobility during the last two decades and the increasing number of pensioners moving to another Member State.

•  Figures on the export of family benefits show a stable evolution in most Member States.

•  Consistent growth was observed in the number of exported unemployment benefits between 2014 and 2019. This growth halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, the number of exported unemployment benefits remained stable at this lower level.