Belgium vs Netherlands: Social expenditure aggregates
Social expenditure aggregates over time
- Belgium
- Netherlands
How they compare
Belgium currently reports 28.57 Percentage of GDP against 18.87 Percentage of GDP in Netherlands, a difference of 9.7 Percentage of GDP.
That makes Belgium's figure about 1.5 times Netherlands's.
The two have swapped places 7 times across 45 shared years of data; in 1980 it was Netherlands ahead.
Belgium ranks 4th and Netherlands ranks 4th of 33 countries.
Belgium has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Belgium | Netherlands | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 25.26 Percentage of GDP | 25.16 Percentage of GDP | 0.0951 Percentage of GDP | Belgium |
| 1990s | 25.38 Percentage of GDP | 23.33 Percentage of GDP | 2.05 Percentage of GDP | Belgium |
| 2000s | 25.12 Percentage of GDP | 19.04 Percentage of GDP | 6.08 Percentage of GDP | Belgium |
| 2010s | 28.22 Percentage of GDP | 18.39 Percentage of GDP | 9.83 Percentage of GDP | Belgium |
| 2020s | 29.07 Percentage of GDP | 19.18 Percentage of GDP | 9.89 Percentage of GDP | Belgium |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher social expenditure aggregates, Belgium or Netherlands?
- Belgium, at 28.57 Percentage of GDP against 18.87 Percentage of GDP in Netherlands as of 2024.
- What is the difference in social expenditure aggregates between Belgium and Netherlands?
- 9.7 Percentage of GDP, with Belgium ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Belgium and Netherlands?
- 45 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2024.
- How do Belgium and Netherlands rank globally for social expenditure aggregates?
- Belgium ranks 4th and Netherlands ranks 4th of 33 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Social expenditure aggregates. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
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.