Italy leads EU in spending on elderly

(ANSA) - Brussels, July 7 - Italy tops EU countries in terms of pensions and spending on the elderly, Eurostat data showed Tuesday. Welfare spending made up 41% of the eurozone budget in 2013, of which 22% was spent on pensions and programs for the elderly. Those figures were 40.2% and 21.4% respectively in the EU-28. Italy in the same year spent 41.3% of its budget on welfare and 27.6% of that was destined for pensions and the elderly, the highest rate in the EU.