Public and private social expenditure in Australia
Australia: Public and private social expenditure was 17.07 Percentage of GDP in 2022. ▲ Rising
Public and private social expenditure in Australia, 1980–2022
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
Australia recorded 17.07 Percentage of GDP for public and private social expenditure in 2022.
That represents a change of down 5.5% on the previous year and down 1.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public and private social expenditure in Australia peaked at 22.64 Percentage of GDP in 2020 and was at its lowest, 10.12 Percentage of GDP, in 1981.
That places Australia 25th out of 33 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 43 years of available data.
Public and private social expenditure in Australia, year by year
| Year | Percentage of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 10.25 Percentage of GDP | — |
| 1981 | 10.12 Percentage of GDP | -1.2% |
| 1982 | 11.09 Percentage of GDP | +9.6% |
| 1983 | 11.6 Percentage of GDP | +4.5% |
| 1984 | 11.97 Percentage of GDP | +3.2% |
| 1985 | 12.05 Percentage of GDP | +0.7% |
| 1986 | 11.89 Percentage of GDP | -1.4% |
| 1987 | 12.15 Percentage of GDP | +2.1% |
| 1988 | 11.44 Percentage of GDP | -5.8% |
| 1989 | 11.58 Percentage of GDP | +1.2% |
| 1990 | 13.12 Percentage of GDP | +13.3% |
| 1991 | 14.28 Percentage of GDP | +8.9% |
| 1992 | 15.26 Percentage of GDP | +6.9% |
| 1993 | 15.52 Percentage of GDP | +1.7% |
| 1994 | 15.23 Percentage of GDP | -1.8% |
| 1995 | 16.87 Percentage of GDP | +10.7% |
| 1996 | 16.99 Percentage of GDP | +0.7% |
| 1997 | 16.75 Percentage of GDP | -1.4% |
| 1998 | 17.56 Percentage of GDP | +4.8% |
| 1999 | 17.2 Percentage of GDP | -2.1% |
| 2000 | 18.18 Percentage of GDP | +5.7% |
| 2001 | 17.49 Percentage of GDP | -3.8% |
| 2002 | 17.3 Percentage of GDP | -1.1% |
| 2003 | 17.48 Percentage of GDP | +1.1% |
| 2004 | 17.18 Percentage of GDP | -1.7% |
| 2005 | 16.64 Percentage of GDP | -3.1% |
| 2006 | 15.68 Percentage of GDP | -5.8% |
| 2007 | 15.84 Percentage of GDP | +1.1% |
| 2008 | 17.04 Percentage of GDP | +7.5% |
| 2009 | 16.83 Percentage of GDP | -1.2% |
| 2010 | 16.54 Percentage of GDP | -1.7% |
| 2011 | 17.01 Percentage of GDP | +2.8% |
| 2012 | 17.3 Percentage of GDP | +1.7% |
| 2013 | 17.26 Percentage of GDP | -0.2% |
| 2014 | 17.87 Percentage of GDP | +3.5% |
| 2015 | 18.2 Percentage of GDP | +1.9% |
| 2016 | 17.48 Percentage of GDP | -3.9% |
| 2017 | 17.07 Percentage of GDP | -2.4% |
| 2018 | 16.63 Percentage of GDP | -2.6% |
| 2019 | 20.43 Percentage of GDP | +22.9% |
| 2020 | 22.64 Percentage of GDP | +10.8% |
| 2021 | 18.06 Percentage of GDP | -20.2% |
| 2022 | 17.07 Percentage of GDP | -5.5% |
Australia compared with similar countries
- Australia's 17.07 Percentage of GDP is below the median for high income countries, which is 23.74 Percentage of GDP, 72% of the median. (29 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 11.41 Percentage of GDP | 10.12 Percentage of GDP | 12.15 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 15.88 Percentage of GDP | 13.12 Percentage of GDP | 17.56 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 16.97 Percentage of GDP | 15.68 Percentage of GDP | 18.18 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 17.58 Percentage of GDP | 16.54 Percentage of GDP | 20.43 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 19.25 Percentage of GDP | 17.07 Percentage of GDP | 22.64 Percentage of GDP | 3 |
Countries ranked near Australia
More social development data for Australia
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 33,415 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 41 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 1 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 1 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 41 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0012 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is public and private social expenditure in Australia?
- Public and private social expenditure in Australia was 17.07 Percentage of GDP in 2022, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest public and private social expenditure recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 22.64 Percentage of GDP in 2020.
- What is the lowest public and private social expenditure recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 10.12 Percentage of GDP in 1981.
- How does Australia rank for public and private social expenditure?
- Australia ranks 25th out of 33 countries with data for 2022.
- Is public and private social expenditure rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 1.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Public and private social expenditure. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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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.