Japan vs United States of America: Social spending as share of GDP
Japan
0.6%
in 2022
United States of America
0.8%
in 2023
Japan rank
15th
United States of America rank
12th
Social spending as share of GDP over time
- Japan
- United States of America
How they compare
United States of America currently reports 0.8% against 0.6% in Japan, a difference of 0.2%.
That makes United States of America's figure about 1.2 times Japan's.
Across all 43 years both countries report, United States of America has been ahead every year.
Japan ranks 15th and United States of America ranks 12th of 42 countries.
United States of America has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | United States of America | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.3% | United States of America |
| 1990s | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.4% | United States of America |
| 2000s | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.4% | United States of America |
| 2010s | 0.3% | 0.8% | 0.5% | United States of America |
| 2020s | 0.5% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 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, Japan or United States of America?
- United States of America, at 0.8% against 0.6% in Japan as of 2023.
- What is the difference in social spending as share of gdp between Japan and United States of America?
- 0.2%, with United States of America ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and United States of America?
- 43 years are reported by both, from 1980 to 2022.
- How do Japan and United States of America rank globally for social spending as share of gdp?
- Japan ranks 15th 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.