Belgium vs United States of America: Social spending as share of GDP
Belgium
0.6%
in 2021
United States of America
0.8%
in 2023
Belgium rank
14th
United States of America rank
12th
Social spending as share of GDP over time
- Belgium
- United States of America
How they compare
United States of America currently reports 0.8% against 0.6% in Belgium, a difference of 0.2%.
That makes United States of America's figure about 1.2 times Belgium's.
The two have swapped places 10 times across 42 shared years of data; in 1980 it was United States of America ahead.
Belgium ranks 14th and United States of America ranks 12th of 42 countries.
Across the 5 decades both report, Belgium averaged higher in 1 and United States of America in 4.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Belgium | United States of America | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.2% | United States of America |
| 1990s | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.0% | United States of America |
| 2000s | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.2% | Belgium |
| 2010s | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.1% | United States of America |
| 2020s | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.0% | United States of America |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher social spending as share of gdp, Belgium or United States of America?
- United States of America, at 0.8% against 0.6% in Belgium as of 2023.
- What is the difference in social spending as share of gdp between Belgium and United States of America?
- 0.2%, with United States of America ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Belgium and United States of America?
- 42 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2021.
- How do Belgium and United States of America rank globally for social spending as share of gdp?
- Belgium ranks 14th and United States of America ranks 12th of 42 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- OECD (2025) β with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Social spending as share of GDP. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Public social expenditure divided by gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage. Includes both in-cash and in-kind benefits in other social policy programs.