List of countries by social welfare spending

This is a list of countries by spending on social welfare. Countries with the highest levels of spending are more likely to be considered welfare states.

As a percentage of GDP

These tables are lists of social welfare spending as a percentage of GDP compiled by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ("OECD") into the OECD Social Expenditure Database which "includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory and voluntary private social expenditure at programme level."[1]

Public social spending

Country 2019 2016 2010 2005 2000
1  France 31.2 31.5 30.7 28.7 27.5
2  Belgium 28.9 29.0 28.3 25.3 23.5
3  Finland 28.7 30.8 27.4 23.9 22.6
4  Italy 28.2 28.9 27.6 24.1 22.6
5  Denmark 28.0 28.7 28.9 25.2 23.8
6  Austria 26.6 27.8 27.6 25.9 25.5
7  Sweden 26.1 27.1 26.3 27.4 26.8
8  Germany 25.1 25.3 25.9 26.3 25.4
9  Norway 25.0 25.1 21.9 20.7 20.4
10  Spain 23.7 24.6 25.8 20.4 19.5
11  Greece 23.5 27.0 23.8 20.4 18.4
12  Portugal 22.6 24.1 24.5 22.3 18.5
13  Luxembourg 22.4 21.8 22.9 22.4 18.6
14  Japan 21.9
15  Slovenia 21.2 22.8 23.4 21.4 22.4
16  Poland 21.1 20.2 20.6 20.9 20.2
17  United Kingdom 20.6 21.5 22.8 19.4 17.7
18  Hungary 19.4 20.6 23.0 21.9 20.1
19  New Zealand 18.9
20  Czech Republic 18.7 19.4 19.8 18.1 18.0
21  United States 18.7 19.3 19.3 15.6 14.3
22  Estonia 18.4 17.4 18.3 13.0 13.8
23  Australia 17.8 19.1 16.7 16.7 18.2
24  Canada 17.3
25  Slovakia 17.0 18.6 18.1 15.8 17.6
26  Netherlands 16.7 22.0 22.1 20.5 18.4
27  Latvia 16.2 14.5 18.7 12.2 14.8
28  Lithuania 16.2
29  Israel 16.0 16.1 16.0 16.3 17.0
30   Switzerland 16.0 19.7 18.4 18.4 16.3
31  Iceland 16.0 15.2 17.0 15.9 14.6
32  Ireland 14.4 16.1 22.4 14.9 12.6
33  Turkey 12.5
34  India 12.08 11.6 10.03 7.6
35  South Korea 11.1 10.4 8.3 6.1 4.5
36  Chile 10.9

Total net social spending

Total net social spending in terms of percent of GDP, takes into account public and private social expenditure, and also includes the effect of direct taxes (income tax and social security contributions), indirect taxation of consumption on cash benefits, as well as tax breaks for social purposes.[1]


Country 2015
1  France 31.7
2  United States 30
3  Belgium 26.7
4  Netherlands 26.3
5  Denmark 25.4
6  Italy 25.4
7  Finland 25.3
8  Germany 24.8
9  Sweden 24.5
10  United Kingdom 24.5
11  Austria 24.3
12   Switzerland 23.7
13  Australia 23.5
14  Japan 23.5
15  Portugal 23
16  Spain 22.9
17  Greece 22.4
18  Norway 22
19  Canada 20.9
20 OECD Average 20.9
21  Slovenia 20.1
22  Poland 20.2
23  Czech Republic 18.6
24  Luxembourg 18.2
25  Iceland 18.2
26  Hungary 18.1
27  New Zealand 17.6
28  Slovak Republic 17.4
29  Israel 16.5
30  Ireland 16.1
31  Estonia 14.9
32  Latvia 13.7
33  Chile 13.3
34  South Korea 13
35  Turkey 11.2
36  Mexico 7.7

Per capita

This table lists social spending per head 2015, 2010, and 2005, in constant 2010 prices adjusted for purchasing power parity, in US dollars.[2]

Country 2015 2010 2005
1  Luxembourg 19,427.60 19,806.90 18,877.00
2  Norway 14,711.20 12,780.70 12,138.60
3  Denmark 12,895.20 12,308.10 10,985.60
4  Austria 11,926.20 11,592.20 10,398.20
5  Belgium 11,917.40 11,338.90 9,798.50
6  France 11,796.10 11,180.00 10,248.40
7  Sweden 11,664.10 10,929.30 10,920.60
8  Finland 11,514.60 10,601.60 9,125.20
9  Germany 10,598.70 10,347.00 9,731.60
10  United States 9,734.40 9,317.30 7,574.00
11  Italy 9,456.90 9,417.10 8,765.80
12  Ireland 9,397.80 10,638.70 7,293.50
13   Switzerland 8,649.30 7,968.90 7,791.20
14  Australia 8,328.10 6,997.00 6,713.50
15  United Kingdom 8,292.30 8,045.40 6,740.80
16  Japan 8,214.10 7,512.30 6,071.90
17  Netherlands 8,069.10 7,922.20 8,612.30
18  Spain 7,832.10 7,902.20 6,599.00
19  Canada 7,456.20 7,028.20 6,439.00
OECD - Average 7,071.10 7,203.40 6,289.20
20  New Zealand 6,612.50 6,416.60 5,448.00
21  Iceland 6,589.20 6,514.00 6,273.80
22  Portugal 6,418.80 6,689.80 5,947.80
23  Slovenia 6,364.50 6,495.20 5,593.00
24  Greece 6,027.60 7,001.90 5,762.20
25  Czech Republic 5,799.70 5,439.70 4,541.20
26  Hungary 5,031.10 4,965.40 4,721.00
27  Slovakia 5,005.80 4,465.70 3,129.70
28  Israel 4,852.40 4,452.30 3,905.40
29  Estonia 4,639.20 3,948.40 2,801.50
30  Lithuania 4,084.30 3,899.70 2,418.90
31  South Korea 3,493.30 2,495.80 1,563.20
32  Latvia 3,481.50 3,427.30 2,068.00
33  Turkey 2,656.90 2,131.80 1,582.40
34  Chile 2,243.10 1,894.20 1,405.60
35  Mexico 1,280.00 1,124.10 656.40
n/a  Poland n/a 4,292.70 3,454.90

See also

References

  1. ^ a b OECD. "Social Expenditure Database (SOCX)". Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Social Expenditure - Aggregated data". OECD Stat. OECD.