New Zealand vs Sweden: Social expenditure aggregates

New Zealand
24.62 Percentage of GDP
in 2022
Sweden
26.09 Percentage of GDP
in 2024
New Zealand rank
11th
Sweden rank
8th

Social expenditure aggregates over time

  • New Zealand
  • Sweden
0102030198020022024

How they compare

Sweden currently reports 26.09 Percentage of GDP against 24.62 Percentage of GDP in New Zealand, a difference of 1.47 Percentage of GDP.

That makes Sweden's figure about 1.1 times New Zealand's.

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

New Zealand ranks 11th and Sweden ranks 8th of 33 countries.

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

Head to head by decade

Decade New Zealand Sweden Difference Ahead
1980s 17.02 Percentage of GDP 25.97 Percentage of GDP 8.95 Percentage of GDP Sweden
1990s 18.93 Percentage of GDP 30.28 Percentage of GDP 11.36 Percentage of GDP Sweden
2000s 18.99 Percentage of GDP 27.33 Percentage of GDP 8.34 Percentage of GDP Sweden
2010s 21.01 Percentage of GDP 27.23 Percentage of GDP 6.22 Percentage of GDP Sweden
2020s 23.84 Percentage of GDP 26.51 Percentage of GDP 2.67 Percentage of GDP Sweden

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher social expenditure aggregates, New Zealand or Sweden?
Sweden, at 26.09 Percentage of GDP against 24.62 Percentage of GDP in New Zealand as of 2024.
What is the difference in social expenditure aggregates between New Zealand and Sweden?
1.47 Percentage of GDP, with Sweden ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for New Zealand and Sweden?
43 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2022.
How do New Zealand and Sweden rank globally for social expenditure aggregates?
New Zealand ranks 11th and Sweden ranks 8th 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.

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New Zealand vs Sweden: Social expenditure aggregates. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 23 August 2026, from https://social-development.statizoid.com/compare/social-expenditure-aggregates/new-zealand/sweden/

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About this data

Indicator
Social expenditure aggregates
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.