Public and private social expenditure in Belgium
Belgium: Public and private social expenditure was 28.57 Percentage of GDP in 2024. ▲ Rising
Public and private social expenditure in Belgium, 1980–2024
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
The most recent figure for public and private social expenditure in Belgium is 28.57 Percentage of GDP, measured in 2024.
That represents a change of up 1.0% on the previous year and up 1.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public and private social expenditure in Belgium peaked at 31.57 Percentage of GDP in 2020 and was at its lowest, 23.48 Percentage of GDP, in 1980.
Belgium ranks 4th of 33 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 45 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 25.26 Percentage of GDP | 23.48 Percentage of GDP | 25.99 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 25.38 Percentage of GDP | 24.72 Percentage of GDP | 26.28 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 25.12 Percentage of GDP | 23.93 Percentage of GDP | 27.88 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 28.22 Percentage of GDP | 27.66 Percentage of GDP | 29.12 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 29.07 Percentage of GDP | 27.83 Percentage of GDP | 31.57 Percentage of GDP | 5 |
Countries ranked near Belgium
More social development data for Belgium
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 186,393 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 113 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh 1 (2025)
- Democracy lexical 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 113 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0156 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 Belgium?
- Public and private social expenditure in Belgium was 28.57 Percentage of GDP in 2024, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest public and private social expenditure recorded in Belgium?
- The highest recorded value was 31.57 Percentage of GDP in 2020.
- What is the lowest public and private social expenditure recorded in Belgium?
- The lowest recorded value was 23.48 Percentage of GDP in 1980.
- How does Belgium rank for public and private social expenditure?
- Belgium ranks 4th out of 33 countries with data for 2024.
- Is public and private social expenditure rising or falling in Belgium?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Belgium 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.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 45 observations, free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required).
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.