Spending on social services in the A.C. of the Basque Country reached the figure of 915 million euros in 2002, 16% more than the previous year, accounting for 2% of the Basque GDP, according to Eustat data. Average expenditure per inhabitant came to 444 euros.

By province, the increase in expenditure in 2002 was 19% in Alava, 16% in Bizkaia and 15% in Gipuzkoa. In relation to the number of inhabitants, Alava had higher expenditure than the rest, with an average per inhabitant of 562 euros, compared to the 440 euros in Gipuzkoa and 416 euros in Bizkaia.

By item of expenditure, current expenditure assigned to the provision of services came to 672 million euros (+14%), economic provision assigned to families (Social salary, Non-contributive pensions, etc.) accounted for a total of 203 million euros (+23%) and investment in the sector came to 42 million euros (+12%).

The contribution of the various public administrations came to 642 million euros, 70% of total spending, and represented expenditure per inhabitant of 312 euros. Various sources of the private sector contributed the remaining 30%; among these, the efforts of families should be stressed, since their contribution, as payment for services, accounted for 12% (109 million euros) of total spending.

In 2002, the sector employed a total of 16,797 people, 1.9% of the workforce, of which 68% were women. Social services also had a volunteer force of 13,824 people who worked free of charge in the sector. Bearing in mind the 5,053 sub-contracted direct care workers – half of this staff worked in the households of the users of the home help service – the employment figure increased by 30%.

The A.C. of the Basque Country had a network of 2,305 centres where social services were provided

Among the wide variety of centres, classified by type of needs attended, the largest group (27%) was that formed by residential centres (residences, functional households, hostels, etc.), 633 in total, offering 17,188 places and employing 7,461 workers. Expenditure on these centres came to 309 million euros, 34% of total spending.

29% of spending was assigned to centres for the elderly

As regards the population groups to whom social services are directed, the elderly had a total of 1,007 centres at their disposal, on which 269 million euros was spent, accounting for 29% of total expenditure.

320 residential centres for the elderly were available, offering 13,006 places, 881 more than in 2001, meaning one place per 29 inhabitants aged 65 or over, with a volume of expenditure of 232 million euros, 13% more than the previous year, with a growing presence of the private sector, which reached 70% of residences for the elderly and 58% of places and users.

Among this group of the population, the 82 day care centres (+8%), offering 1,829 places (+14%), strengthened their position as an alternative to admission into residences. With lower figures as regards employment and expenditure, but with great social acceptance, the 336 retirement clubs and the 247 associations achieved a total of 364,463 members.

This offer was completed by other programmes and services that, while not exclusively for the elderly, accounted for expenditure of 79 million euros, half of which was used on the home help service. With these programmes, expenditure on the elderly came to around 38% of total spending.