MADRID — Thousands of people marched through the Spanish capital on Saturday in support of the state pension scheme, as protests continued across Europe over issues including the cost of living, Al Jazeera reported on October 24. Protesters from across the country marched through Madrid before next month's general election, from Atocha train station to the Gran Via, Madrid's busiest and most famous street, carrying banners reading "protect and guarantee our pensions". Demonstrators want pensions to remain indexed to inflation and are calling for the gender pension gap to be eliminated, Al Jazeera said.

Source: Al Jazeera, Oct 24, 2026

The size of the crowd is disputed between the two reports reviewed for this story. Al Jazeera reported approximately 25,000 people gathered. Madrid authorities told AFP there were around 250,000 demonstrators, who walked peacefully from Atocha station to the Gran Via, watched by tourists, AFP reported. Awaaz Punjab is reporting both figures with their sources, not treating either as settled.

Source: AFP via The Good Morning News, Oct 24, 2026

For marchers who spoke to AFP, the fear was personal. Juan Fernandez, a 38-year-old civil servant in the southern city of Seville, said he was "unsure" he would get his future pension and was opposed to any drive to privatise the system. "The value of any privatised chunk would be linked to the stock market price. There would be winners — and losers," he told AFP. "Pensions should be sacrosanct," Pilar, who is 64 and close to retirement, told AFP, declining to give her surname. She condemned "the tendency to privatise everything" and urged the public to "defend everything we've worked for — not just pensions, but public services like health and education too". Emilio Delgado, deputy spokesperson of the left-wing party Mas Madrid in the Assembly of Madrid, posted on X that "no pension should be below the minimum wage. A lifetime of work deserves a dignified retirement."

Source: AFP via The Good Morning News, Oct 24, 2026

The rally has become an election fight. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has accused the right-wing Popular Party (PP) of planning to weaken inflation-linked pension increases if it wins next month's election, and has pledged to protect pensions if he remains in office, saying the current system is affordable, Al Jazeera reported. PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo said on Monday his party would continue to raise pensions in line with inflation every year if it won the November 29 election and he became prime minister, AFP reported. Earlier this month, Ester Munoz, a PP MP, predicted the current pension system would "collapse" and called for it to be changed, prompting criticism from the government, AFP said. Sanchez has accused the PP of questioning the mechanism linking pension increases to inflation, in force since 2022, because it voted against the legislation introducing the measure, AFP added.

Source: Al Jazeera, Oct 24, 2026

The pressure on Spain's pension scheme is being driven by an ageing population, a low birth rate and wage stagnation, as well as a declining ratio of workers to pensioners, Al Jazeera said. The country's monthly pension bill hit a record high this year of almost 14.5 billion euros ($16.2 billion) — yaani about 1,450 crore euros, or 16.2 billion dollars, paid out in a single month — and the system has gradually become more reliant on state funding because of a growing number of pensioners and increases in monthly payments, it said. Around 6.8 million Spaniards receive a state pension, and as of September the average amount was 1,576 euros ($1,765) a month, according to the social security ministry, AFP reported.

Source: Al Jazeera, Oct 24, 2026