Canada vs Italy: Social spending as share of GDP
Canada
2.4%
in 2022
Italy
1.6%
in 2021
Canada rank
1st
Italy rank
4th
Social spending as share of GDP over time
- Canada
- Italy
How they compare
Canada currently reports 2.4% against 1.6% in Italy, a difference of 0.8%.
That makes Canada's figure about 1.5 times Italy's.
Across all 42 years both countries report, Canada has been ahead every year.
Canada ranks 1st and Italy ranks 4th of 42 countries.
Canada has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Canada | Italy | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 2.1% | 0.0% | 2.1% | Canada |
| 1990s | 3.1% | 0.0% | 3.0% | Canada |
| 2000s | 2.4% | 0.1% | 2.3% | Canada |
| 2010s | 2.2% | 0.5% | 1.7% | Canada |
| 2020s | 2.5% | 1.5% | 1.0% | Canada |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher social spending as share of gdp, Canada or Italy?
- Canada, at 2.4% against 1.6% in Italy as of 2022.
- What is the difference in social spending as share of gdp between Canada and Italy?
- 0.8%, with Canada ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Canada and Italy?
- 42 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2021.
- How do Canada and Italy rank globally for social spending as share of gdp?
- Canada ranks 1st and Italy ranks 4th of 42 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- OECD (2025) – 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.