What is the difference in government spending by function as a share of gdp between Costa Rica and Republic of Korea?

1.2%, with Republic of Korea ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Costa Rica and Republic of Korea?

10 years are reported by both, from 2012 to 2021.

Where does this data come from?

OECD (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Government spending by function as a share of GDP. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Costa Rica vs Republic of Korea: Government spending by function as a share of GDP

Costa Rica

8.1%

in 2021

Republic of Korea

9.3%

in 2023

Costa Rica rank

35th

Republic of Korea rank

33rd

Government spending by function as a share of GDP over time

Costa Rica
Republic of Korea

How they compare

Republic of Korea currently reports 9.3% against 8.1% in Costa Rica, a difference of 1.2%.

That makes Republic of Korea's figure about 1.1 times Costa Rica's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 10 shared years of data; in 2012 it was Costa Rica ahead.

Costa Rica ranks 35th and Republic of Korea ranks 33rd of 37 countries.

Costa Rica has averaged higher in every one of the 2 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Costa Rica	Republic of Korea	Difference	Ahead
2010s	8.1%	6.4%	1.7%	Costa Rica
2020s	8.8%	8.7%	0.1%	Costa Rica

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher government spending by function as a share of gdp, Costa Rica or Republic of Korea?: Republic of Korea, at 9.3% against 8.1% in Costa Rica as of 2023.
What is the difference in government spending by function as a share of gdp between Costa Rica and Republic of Korea?: 1.2%, with Republic of Korea ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Costa Rica and Republic of Korea?: 10 years are reported by both, from 2012 to 2021.
How do Costa Rica and Republic of Korea rank globally for government spending by function as a share of gdp?: Costa Rica ranks 35th and Republic of Korea ranks 33rd of 37 countries.
Where does this data come from?: OECD (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Government spending by function as a share of GDP. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Costa Rica vs Republic of Korea: Government spending by function as a share of GDP. Statizoid, drawing on OECD (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 07 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/government-spending-by-function-as-share-of-gdp-across-countries/costa-rica/korea-rep/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/government-spending-by-function-as-share-of-gdp-across-countries/costa-rica/korea-rep/">Costa Rica vs Republic of Korea: Government spending by function as a share of GDP</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Government spending by function as a share of GDP
Unit: % of GDP
Source: OECD (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 37 places, 618 data points, 2007–2024
Last refreshed: 28 August 2026

General government expenditure on social protection. This data is divided by gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.