Public and private social expenditure in OECD
OECD: Public and private social expenditure was 21.23 Percentage of GDP in 2024. ▲ Rising
Public and private social expenditure in OECD, 1980–2024
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
OECD recorded 21.23 Percentage of GDP for public and private social expenditure in 2024.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.3% on the previous year and up 4.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public and private social expenditure in OECD peaked at 23.32 Percentage of GDP in 2020 and was at its lowest, 14.4 Percentage of GDP, in 1980.
That places OECD 18th out of 33 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 45 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 15.43 Percentage of GDP | 14.4 Percentage of GDP | 15.98 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 17.86 Percentage of GDP | 16.5 Percentage of GDP | 18.65 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 18.29 Percentage of GDP | 17.45 Percentage of GDP | 20.66 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 20.2 Percentage of GDP | 19.83 Percentage of GDP | 20.51 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 21.58 Percentage of GDP | 20.49 Percentage of GDP | 23.32 Percentage of GDP | 5 |
Countries ranked near OECD
More social development data for OECD
- Social expenditure aggregates 21.23 Percentage of GDP (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is public and private social expenditure in OECD?
- Public and private social expenditure in OECD was 21.23 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 OECD?
- The highest recorded value was 23.32 Percentage of GDP in 2020.
- What is the lowest public and private social expenditure recorded in OECD?
- The lowest recorded value was 14.4 Percentage of GDP in 1980.
- How does OECD rank for public and private social expenditure?
- OECD ranks 18th out of 33 countries with data for 2024.
- Is public and private social expenditure rising or falling in OECD?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this OECD 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.