Denmark vs United Kingdom: Public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP

Denmark
7.51 Percentage of GDP
in 2021
United Kingdom
7.07 Percentage of GDP
in 2022
Denmark rank
18th
United Kingdom rank
20th

Public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP over time

  • Denmark
  • United Kingdom
02468198020012022

How they compare

Denmark currently reports 7.51 Percentage of GDP against 7.07 Percentage of GDP in United Kingdom, a difference of 0.44 Percentage of GDP.

That makes Denmark's figure about 1.1 times United Kingdom's.

The two have swapped places 5 times across 42 shared years of data; in 1980 it was United Kingdom ahead.

Denmark ranks 18th and United Kingdom ranks 20th of 33 countries.

Across the 5 decades both report, Denmark averaged higher in 1 and United Kingdom in 4.

Head to head by decade

Decade Denmark United Kingdom Difference Ahead
1980s 5.66 Percentage of GDP 6.58 Percentage of GDP 0.9243 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom
1990s 6.67 Percentage of GDP 7.22 Percentage of GDP 0.5466 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom
2000s 6.41 Percentage of GDP 7.26 Percentage of GDP 0.8511 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom
2010s 7.81 Percentage of GDP 8.17 Percentage of GDP 0.3542 Percentage of GDP United Kingdom
2020s 7.86 Percentage of GDP 7.6 Percentage of GDP 0.2545 Percentage of GDP Denmark

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % gdp, Denmark or United Kingdom?
Denmark, at 7.51 Percentage of GDP against 7.07 Percentage of GDP in United Kingdom as of 2021.
What is the difference in public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % gdp between Denmark and United Kingdom?
0.44 Percentage of GDP, with Denmark ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Denmark and United Kingdom?
42 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2021.
How do Denmark and United Kingdom rank globally for public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % gdp?
Denmark ranks 18th and United Kingdom ranks 20th of 33 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP — Social expenditure. 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

Denmark vs United Kingdom: Public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 18 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/public-expenditure-on-old-age-and-survivors-cash-benefits-in-percent-gdp-social/denmark/united-kingdom/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/public-expenditure-on-old-age-and-survivors-cash-benefits-in-percent-gdp-social/denmark/united-kingdom/">Denmark vs United Kingdom: Public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP — Social expenditure
Unit
Percentage of GDP
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
43 places, 1,481 data points, 1980–2023
Last refreshed

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.