OECD vs United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Public and private social expenditure

OECD
21.23 Percentage of GDP
in 2024
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
22.98 Percentage of GDP
in 2023
OECD rank
18th
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland rank
16th

Public and private social expenditure over time

  • OECD
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
0102030198020022024

How they compare

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland currently reports 22.98 Percentage of GDP against 21.23 Percentage of GDP in OECD, a difference of 1.75 Percentage of GDP.

That makes United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's figure about 1.1 times OECD's.

Across all 44 years both countries report, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been ahead every year.

OECD ranks 18th and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ranks 16th of 33 countries.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade OECD United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Difference Ahead
1980s 15.43 Percentage of GDP 18.55 Percentage of GDP 3.12 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1990s 17.86 Percentage of GDP 19.27 Percentage of GDP 1.41 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2000s 18.29 Percentage of GDP 21.27 Percentage of GDP 2.98 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2010s 20.2 Percentage of GDP 23.79 Percentage of GDP 3.59 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2020s 21.67 Percentage of GDP 23.94 Percentage of GDP 2.27 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher public and private social expenditure, OECD or United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, at 22.98 Percentage of GDP against 21.23 Percentage of GDP in OECD as of 2023.
What is the difference in public and private social expenditure between OECD and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
1.75 Percentage of GDP, with United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for OECD and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
44 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2023.
How do OECD and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland rank globally for public and private social expenditure?
OECD ranks 18th and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ranks 16th 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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OECD vs United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Public and private social expenditure. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 22 August 2026, from https://social-development.statizoid.com/compare/public-and-private-social-expenditure/oecd/united-kingdom/

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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.