Italy vs New Zealand: Social spending as share of GDP
Italy
1.6%
in 2021
New Zealand
2.4%
in 2022
Italy rank
4th
New Zealand rank
2nd
Social spending as share of GDP over time
- Italy
- New Zealand
How they compare
New Zealand currently reports 2.4% against 1.6% in Italy, a difference of 0.8%.
That makes New Zealand's figure about 1.5 times Italy's.
Across all 42 years both countries report, New Zealand has been ahead every year.
Italy ranks 4th and New Zealand ranks 2nd of 42 countries.
New Zealand has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Italy | New Zealand | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.0% | 0.6% | 0.6% | New Zealand |
| 1990s | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.3% | New Zealand |
| 2000s | 0.1% | 1.1% | 1.0% | New Zealand |
| 2010s | 0.5% | 1.7% | 1.2% | New Zealand |
| 2020s | 1.5% | 2.1% | 0.6% | New Zealand |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher social spending as share of gdp, Italy or New Zealand?
- New Zealand, at 2.4% against 1.6% in Italy as of 2022.
- What is the difference in social spending as share of gdp between Italy and New Zealand?
- 0.8%, with New Zealand ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Italy and New Zealand?
- 42 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2021.
- How do Italy and New Zealand rank globally for social spending as share of gdp?
- Italy ranks 4th and New Zealand ranks 2nd 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.