Denmark vs Japan: Public and private social expenditure

Denmark
26.42 Percentage of GDP
in 2024
Japan
24.74 Percentage of GDP
in 2022
Denmark rank
7th
Japan rank
10th

Public and private social expenditure over time

  • Denmark
  • Japan
1015202530198020022024

How they compare

Denmark currently reports 26.42 Percentage of GDP against 24.74 Percentage of GDP in Japan, a difference of 1.68 Percentage of GDP.

That makes Denmark's figure about 1.1 times Japan's.

Across all 43 years both countries report, Denmark has been ahead every year.

Denmark ranks 7th and Japan ranks 10th of 33 countries.

Denmark has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Denmark Japan Difference Ahead
1980s 20.26 Percentage of GDP 10.61 Percentage of GDP 9.66 Percentage of GDP Denmark
1990s 23.92 Percentage of GDP 12.37 Percentage of GDP 11.55 Percentage of GDP Denmark
2000s 25.44 Percentage of GDP 17 Percentage of GDP 8.45 Percentage of GDP Denmark
2010s 29.62 Percentage of GDP 21.88 Percentage of GDP 7.74 Percentage of GDP Denmark
2020s 27.71 Percentage of GDP 24.98 Percentage of GDP 2.73 Percentage of GDP Denmark

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher public and private social expenditure, Denmark or Japan?
Denmark, at 26.42 Percentage of GDP against 24.74 Percentage of GDP in Japan as of 2024.
What is the difference in public and private social expenditure between Denmark and Japan?
1.68 Percentage of GDP, with Denmark ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Denmark and Japan?
43 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2022.
How do Denmark and Japan rank globally for public and private social expenditure?
Denmark ranks 7th and Japan ranks 10th of 33 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Public and private social expenditure. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

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Denmark vs Japan: Public and private social expenditure. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 21 August 2026, from https://social-development.statizoid.com/compare/public-and-private-social-expenditure/denmark/japan/

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About this data

Indicator
Public and private social expenditure
Unit
Percentage of GDP
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
43 places, 1,559 data points, 1980–2024
Last refreshed

The OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) has been developed in order to serve a growing need for indicators of social policy. It includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory and voluntary private social expenditure at programme level. SOCX provides a unique tool for monitoring trends in aggregate social expenditure and analysing changes in its composition. It covers 38 OECD countries and some accession countries for the period 1980-2021/23 and estimates for aggregates for 2022-24. A Social Expenditure Update can be found under www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/social-expenditure-database-socx.htm. The main social policy areas are as follows: Old age, Survivors, Incapacity-related benefits, Health, Family, Active labor market programmes, Unemployment, Housing, and Other social policy areas. This version also includes estimates of net total social spending for 2021 for 38 OECD countries. SOCX aggregated data as well as sources and methodology are described in The OECD SOCX Manual – 2019 edition- A guide to the OECD Social Expenditure Database.