Social expenditure aggregates in Ireland
Ireland: Social expenditure aggregates was 14.36 Percentage of GDP in 2024. ▼ Falling
Social expenditure aggregates in Ireland, 1980–2024
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
Ireland recorded 14.36 Percentage of GDP for social expenditure aggregates in 2024.
The figure is up 7.1% on the previous year and down 26.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, social expenditure aggregates in Ireland peaked at 24.12 Percentage of GDP in 2010 and was at its lowest, 12.07 Percentage of GDP, in 2022.
That places Ireland 28th out of 33 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 45 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 17.74 Percentage of GDP | 15.67 Percentage of GDP | 20.54 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 16.76 Percentage of GDP | 13.68 Percentage of GDP | 18.53 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 16.53 Percentage of GDP | 13.14 Percentage of GDP | 23.85 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 17.98 Percentage of GDP | 12.7 Percentage of GDP | 24.12 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 13.78 Percentage of GDP | 12.07 Percentage of GDP | 15.51 Percentage of GDP | 5 |
Countries ranked near Ireland
More social development data for Ireland
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 137,869 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 69 (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 69 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0251 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 social expenditure aggregates in Ireland?
- Social expenditure aggregates in Ireland was 14.36 Percentage of GDP in 2024, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest social expenditure aggregates recorded in Ireland?
- The highest recorded value was 24.12 Percentage of GDP in 2010.
- What is the lowest social expenditure aggregates recorded in Ireland?
- The lowest recorded value was 12.07 Percentage of GDP in 2022.
- How does Ireland rank for social expenditure aggregates?
- Ireland ranks 28th out of 33 countries with data for 2024.
- Is social expenditure aggregates rising or falling in Ireland?
- Over the last ten years it is down 26.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Ireland data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Social expenditure aggregates. 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.