As of March 15, 2025, sick leave in Spain due to common contingencies—encompassing common illnesses and non-work-related accidents—has surged by 44.9% from 2019 to 2024, significantly outpacing the 13.3% growth in affiliations to the general Social Security regime over the same period.

According to the 'Observatory of Common Contingencies 2024' from the mutual insurance company Asepeyo, more than 290 million days of absence were recorded last year, equivalent to approximately 950,000 workers missing work for the entire year.

However, this average does not reflect a widespread issue, as noted by Constantino Perea, territorial director for Asepeyo's Central area, who identifies recurrent cases, an uptick in psychiatric sick leave, and prolonged absence durations as the primary areas of concern.

Perea highlighted that 70% of workers did not experience any absences during the year, while 3.7% of employees accounted for 32.1% of all sick leave cases.

In 2024, there was an average of 676,022 new sick leave cases initiated each month, marking a 5.3% increase from 2023. Among these cases, 40% lasted up to three days, with nearly 70% lasting up to 15 days.

These short-term absences are contributing to the bottleneck in primary health care within the national health system, according to Perea, who suggested that sick leaves of fewer than four days could be managed by collaborating mutual insurance companies that have the necessary resources.

Conversely, the trend of sick leave extending beyond 90 days is deemed more alarming, as these cases, while only 12% of the total, are growing at a double-digit rate both in number and duration.

The average duration of sick leave due to common contingencies is currently 37.1 days, an increase of 3.1 days compared to 2023. Sick leaves exceeding 100 days have also risen by over ten days.

This situation reflects the underlying issues of waiting lists and a shortage of medical specialists, contributing to unnecessary delays in diagnostic tests and interventions.

In this context, the Spanish Government's agreement with social agents to enhance the role of mutual insurance companies in sick leaves resulting from traumatic origins has yet to be implemented in any autonomous community, according to Asepeyo's director.

The average monthly initiation of sick leaves per 1,000 workers was 36.2 in 2024, a rise of 1.8 from the previous year, with variations across regions, boasting a maximum incidence rate of 56.8 in Navarre and a minimum of 19.7 in Extremadura.

Regions with higher incidence rates tend to report more short-term sick leaves, while those with lower rates often have longer absences, illustrated by Extremadura's average sick leave duration of 72.7 days compared to Navarre's 26.6 days.

Psychiatric disorders remain a growing concern, representing 33.2% of all sick leave cases, a rate that has remained stable in 2024. Psychiatric conditions, the second most prevalent category, increased by one percentage point to 14.8% of all cases.

Approximately 70% of these psychiatric cases stem from underlying psychiatric issues, while Asepeyo estimates that another 30% may relate to workplace or family problems that could potentially be addressed through mediation or work-life balance initiatives.

Psychiatric sick leaves rank as the fifth longest in duration, averaging 129 days, behind oncological (196 days), cardiovascular (153 days), shoulder (149 days), and knee (137 days) sick leaves.