Public and private social expenditure in United States
United States: Public and private social expenditure was 19.81 Percentage of GDP in 2024. ▲ Rising
Public and private social expenditure in United States, 1980–2024
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
United States recorded 19.81 Percentage of GDP for public and private social expenditure in 2024.
That represents a change of up 4.6% on the previous year and up 7.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public and private social expenditure in United States peaked at 23.68 Percentage of GDP in 2020 and was at its lowest, 12.59 Percentage of GDP, in 1985.
United States ranks 20th of 33 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 45 years of available data.
Public and private social expenditure in United States, year by year
| Year | Percentage of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 12.86 Percentage of GDP | — |
| 1981 | 13.2 Percentage of GDP | +2.6% |
| 1982 | 13.62 Percentage of GDP | +3.2% |
| 1983 | 13.78 Percentage of GDP | +1.2% |
| 1984 | 12.89 Percentage of GDP | -6.4% |
| 1985 | 12.59 Percentage of GDP | -2.4% |
| 1986 | 12.92 Percentage of GDP | +2.7% |
| 1987 | 12.88 Percentage of GDP | -0.3% |
| 1988 | 12.85 Percentage of GDP | -0.3% |
| 1989 | 12.83 Percentage of GDP | -0.1% |
| 1990 | 13.2 Percentage of GDP | +2.8% |
| 1991 | 14.16 Percentage of GDP | +7.3% |
| 1992 | 14.84 Percentage of GDP | +4.8% |
| 1993 | 15.11 Percentage of GDP | +1.8% |
| 1994 | 15.05 Percentage of GDP | -0.4% |
| 1995 | 14.93 Percentage of GDP | -0.8% |
| 1996 | 14.74 Percentage of GDP | -1.3% |
| 1997 | 14.32 Percentage of GDP | -2.8% |
| 1998 | 14.38 Percentage of GDP | +0.4% |
| 1999 | 14.11 Percentage of GDP | -1.9% |
| 2000 | 14.12 Percentage of GDP | +0.1% |
| 2001 | 14.7 Percentage of GDP | +4.1% |
| 2002 | 15.54 Percentage of GDP | +5.7% |
| 2003 | 15.8 Percentage of GDP | +1.7% |
| 2004 | 15.66 Percentage of GDP | -0.9% |
| 2005 | 15.49 Percentage of GDP | -1.1% |
| 2006 | 15.54 Percentage of GDP | +0.3% |
| 2007 | 15.68 Percentage of GDP | +0.8% |
| 2008 | 16.25 Percentage of GDP | +3.7% |
| 2009 | 18.32 Percentage of GDP | +12.7% |
| 2010 | 19.05 Percentage of GDP | +4.0% |
| 2011 | 18.75 Percentage of GDP | -1.6% |
| 2012 | 18.48 Percentage of GDP | -1.4% |
| 2013 | 18.42 Percentage of GDP | -0.3% |
| 2014 | 18.41 Percentage of GDP | -0.1% |
| 2015 | 18.48 Percentage of GDP | +0.4% |
| 2016 | 18.59 Percentage of GDP | +0.6% |
| 2017 | 18.39 Percentage of GDP | -1.1% |
| 2018 | 18.15 Percentage of GDP | -1.3% |
| 2019 | 18.2 Percentage of GDP | +0.3% |
| 2020 | 23.68 Percentage of GDP | +30.1% |
| 2021 | 21.62 Percentage of GDP | -8.7% |
| 2022 | 18.98 Percentage of GDP | -12.2% |
| 2023 | 18.95 Percentage of GDP | -0.2% |
| 2024 | 19.81 Percentage of GDP | +4.6% |
United States compared with similar countries
- United States's 19.81 Percentage of GDP is below the median for high income countries, which is 23.74 Percentage of GDP, 83% of the median. (29 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Public and private social expenditure in United States changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +30.1% | 18.2 Percentage of GDP | 23.68 Percentage of GDP |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 13.04 Percentage of GDP | 12.59 Percentage of GDP | 13.78 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 14.48 Percentage of GDP | 13.2 Percentage of GDP | 15.11 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 15.71 Percentage of GDP | 14.12 Percentage of GDP | 18.32 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 18.49 Percentage of GDP | 18.15 Percentage of GDP | 19.05 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 20.61 Percentage of GDP | 18.95 Percentage of GDP | 23.68 Percentage of GDP | 5 |
Countries ranked near United States
More social development data for United States
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 457,647 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 3,667 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 2 (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 3,667 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0013 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 States?
- Public and private social expenditure in United States was 19.81 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 United States?
- The highest recorded value was 23.68 Percentage of GDP in 2020.
- What is the lowest public and private social expenditure recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 12.59 Percentage of GDP in 1985.
- How does United States rank for public and private social expenditure?
- United States ranks 20th out of 33 countries with data for 2024.
- Is public and private social expenditure rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is up 7.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States 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.