Adding these to other allowances, such as occupational disease and tuberculosis, the number exceeds 200,000 people being paid this benefit.

“The age group from 50 to 59 years old was the most represented group, with 28.7%, followed by the group aged between 40 and 49 years old (25.9%), in the group of beneficiaries of sickness benefit”.

Sick leave was attributed to almost 100,000 women and more than 70,000 men, according to Social Security. The number of childcare benefits also increased, reaching 34,273 people last month.