Public and private social expenditure in United Kingdom
United Kingdom: Public and private social expenditure was 22.98 Percentage of GDP in 2023. ▲ Rising
Public and private social expenditure in United Kingdom, 1980–2023
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
In 2023, public and private social expenditure in United Kingdom stood at 22.98 Percentage of GDP.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.0% on the previous year and down 6.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public and private social expenditure in United Kingdom peaked at 25.61 Percentage of GDP in 2020 and was at its lowest, 16.84 Percentage of GDP, in 1989.
United Kingdom ranks 16th of 33 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 44 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 18.55 Percentage of GDP | 16.84 Percentage of GDP | 19.61 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 19.27 Percentage of GDP | 17.25 Percentage of GDP | 21.06 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 21.27 Percentage of GDP | 19.26 Percentage of GDP | 25.09 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 23.79 Percentage of GDP | 22.22 Percentage of GDP | 25.28 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 23.94 Percentage of GDP | 22.75 Percentage of GDP | 25.61 Percentage of GDP | 4 |
Countries ranked near United Kingdom
More social development data for United Kingdom
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 581,072 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 517 (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 517 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0084 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 United Kingdom?
- Public and private social expenditure in United Kingdom was 22.98 Percentage of GDP in 2023, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest public and private social expenditure recorded in United Kingdom?
- The highest recorded value was 25.61 Percentage of GDP in 2020.
- What is the lowest public and private social expenditure recorded in United Kingdom?
- The lowest recorded value was 16.84 Percentage of GDP in 1989.
- How does United Kingdom rank for public and private social expenditure?
- United Kingdom ranks 16th out of 33 countries with data for 2023.
- Is public and private social expenditure rising or falling in United Kingdom?
- Over the last ten years it is down 6.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United Kingdom 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.