Disability benefit payments rise 150% in decade

Total payments of disability benefits reached nearly ISK 113.1 billion in 2025, almost 150% higher than a decade earlier, mbl.is reports.

Payments amounted to nearly ISK 46 billion in 2016. The number of disability benefit recipients also increased, from 22,470 that year to 30,193 in 2025, a rise of 34%.

Most recipients in 2025 were Icelandic, numbering 25,624, while 4,569 were foreign nationals. In 2016, 20,768 Icelanders and 1,702 foreign nationals received disability benefits. The number of foreign recipients therefore increased by nearly 170% during the period.

People from Tunisia and Morocco were four times more likely to receive disability benefits in Iceland than Icelanders, while people from Cape Verde were 3.3 times more likely and Tunisians 2.9 times more likely. Individuals from those countries received benefits last year.

The figures were included in the social affairs and housing minister’s response to a parliamentary question from Nanna Margrét Gunnlaugsdóttir, a Centre Party MP, about pension entitlements and the number of pension recipients.

“These figures show me that there is no monitoring. Monitoring was greater 10 to 15 years ago than it is today, and both spending in this field and the number of people receiving benefits have increased significantly,” Nanna Margrét told Morgunblaðið.