Japan vs Sweden: Social spending as share of GDP
Japan
0.6%
in 2022
Sweden
0.5%
in 2021
Japan rank
15th
Sweden rank
18th
Social spending as share of GDP over time
- Japan
- Sweden
How they compare
Japan currently reports 0.6% against 0.5% in Sweden, a difference of 0.1%.
That makes Japan's figure about 1.2 times Sweden's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 42 shared years of data; in 1980 it was Sweden ahead.
Japan ranks 15th and Sweden ranks 18th of 42 countries.
Sweden has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | Sweden | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.4% | Sweden |
| 1990s | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0.7% | Sweden |
| 2000s | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.4% | Sweden |
| 2010s | 0.3% | 0.8% | 0.5% | Sweden |
| 2020s | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.1% | Sweden |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher social spending as share of gdp, Japan or Sweden?
- Japan, at 0.6% against 0.5% in Sweden as of 2022.
- What is the difference in social spending as share of gdp between Japan and Sweden?
- 0.1%, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and Sweden?
- 42 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2021.
- How do Japan and Sweden rank globally for social spending as share of gdp?
- Japan ranks 15th and Sweden ranks 18th 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.