Social expenditure aggregates in New Zealand
New Zealand: Social expenditure aggregates was 24.62 Percentage of GDP in 2022. ▲ Rising
Social expenditure aggregates in New Zealand, 1980–2022
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
In 2022, social expenditure aggregates in New Zealand stood at 24.62 Percentage of GDP. That is the highest value across all 43 years on record.
That represents a change of up 1.6% on the previous year and up 15.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, social expenditure aggregates in New Zealand peaked at 24.62 Percentage of GDP in 2022 and was at its lowest, 15.93 Percentage of GDP, in 1984.
New Zealand ranks 11th of 33 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 43 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 17.02 Percentage of GDP | 15.93 Percentage of GDP | 19.65 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 18.93 Percentage of GDP | 17.56 Percentage of GDP | 20.56 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 18.99 Percentage of GDP | 16.71 Percentage of GDP | 22.34 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 21.01 Percentage of GDP | 19.83 Percentage of GDP | 24.18 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 23.84 Percentage of GDP | 22.67 Percentage of GDP | 24.62 Percentage of GDP | 3 |
Countries ranked near New Zealand
More social development data for New Zealand
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 2,148 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 58 (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 58 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0004 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 New Zealand?
- Social expenditure aggregates in New Zealand was 24.62 Percentage of GDP in 2022, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest social expenditure aggregates recorded in New Zealand?
- The highest recorded value was 24.62 Percentage of GDP in 2022.
- What is the lowest social expenditure aggregates recorded in New Zealand?
- The lowest recorded value was 15.93 Percentage of GDP in 1984.
- How does New Zealand rank for social expenditure aggregates?
- New Zealand ranks 11th out of 33 countries with data for 2022.
- Is social expenditure aggregates rising or falling in New Zealand?
- Over the last ten years it is up 15.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this New Zealand 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.
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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.