The cost of Italy's pension system last year jumped 4.1% over 2005 and equaled 15.16% of GDP, national statistics bureau Istat reported on Thursday.
At the end of 2006, Istat said, a total of 23.5 million pensions were being paid out for a total value of 223.629 billion euros.
This averaged out to 9,511 euros a year per pension, although some people were able to draw more than one pension.
The overall number of pensions inched up by 1.1% over 2005 while the average pension rose by 2.9%, well ahead of the year's inflation rate of 2.1%.
Women were beneficiaries of 53% of last year's pensions but the cost of pensions for men represented 56% of the total, with men receiving an average pension of 15,990 euros compared to 11,133 for women.
According to Istat, 51.2% of Italy's pension spending last year went to the north, 27.3% to the south and 21.5% to the central regions.
More than two out of three pensioners, 69.1%, were over 64 years of age, 30.9% were less than 64 and 27.4% were between the ages of 40 and 64, while 3.6% were less than 40.
Istat pointed out that aside from age and number of years worked, pensions are also paid for invalidity and in certain cases to heirs.
