Finland vs Iceland: Social spending as share of GDP

Finland
1.0%
in 2021
Iceland
1.0%
in 2021
Finland rank
8th
Iceland rank
9th

Social spending as share of GDP over time

  • Finland
  • Iceland
0.20.40.60.811.2198020002021

How they compare

Finland currently reports 1.0% against 1.0% in Iceland, a difference of 0.0%.

The two have swapped places 4 times across 32 shared years of data; in 1990 it was Finland ahead.

Finland ranks 8th and Iceland ranks 9th of 42 countries.

Finland has averaged higher in every one of the 4 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Finland Iceland Difference Ahead
1990s 0.6% 0.5% 0.2% Finland
2000s 0.5% 0.5% 0.1% Finland
2010s 0.9% 0.7% 0.2% Finland
2020s 1.0% 0.9% 0.0% Finland

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher social spending as share of gdp, Finland or Iceland?
Finland, at 1.0% against 1.0% in Iceland as of 2021.
What is the difference in social spending as share of gdp between Finland and Iceland?
0.0%, with Finland ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Finland and Iceland?
32 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2021.
How do Finland and Iceland rank globally for social spending as share of gdp?
Finland ranks 8th and Iceland ranks 9th 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

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Finland vs Iceland: Social spending as share of GDP. Statizoid, drawing on OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/social-expenditure-as-percentage-of-gdp/finland/iceland/

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/social-expenditure-as-percentage-of-gdp/finland/iceland/">Finland vs Iceland: Social spending as share of GDP</a> β€” Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Social spending as share of GDP
Unit
% of GDP
Source
OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
42 places, 1,427 data points, 1980–2023
Last refreshed

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.