Countries With the Highest Public Social Spending

Every country with a figure for public social spending, ranked from highest to lowest. The top three are Austria (31.6%), Finland (31.4%) and France (30.6%). The middle country of the 42 has 20.5%.

What this measures

Public social expenditure, in % of GDP. Source: OECD. For this measure, no agreed better direction.

All public social spending, as a share of GDP: pensions, health, family, unemployment, housing and the rest. The figures before 1980 are stitched together from older OECD tables and from Lindert's historical estimates, so they are left out. The OECD's social spending database (SOCX) itself starts in 1980. The four spending areas below are parts of this total and are flagged as such.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2021–2024. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on public social spending

• Countries With the Lowest Public Social Spending
• Public social spending by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

• Countries With the Highest Family Benefits Spending
• Countries With the Highest Old-age Spending
• Countries With the Highest Aid Given
• Countries With the Highest Government Spending per Capita
• Countries With the Highest Corporate Tax Rates
• Countries With the Highest HDI
• Countries With the Highest Inequality-adjusted HDI
• Countries With the Highest GDP per Capita (PPP)

A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.