Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP — Social expenditure by country
The OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) has been developed in order to serve a growing need for indicators of social policy. It includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory and voluntary private social expenditure at programme level. SOCX provides a unique tool for...
What the numbers show
Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP — Social expenditure is currently reported for 41 countries. The highest value is 4.74 Percentage of GDP in Denmark; the lowest is 0.08 Percentage of GDP in Peru.
The median across all reporting countries is 2.03 Percentage of GDP, and the mean is 2.05 Percentage of GDP.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 59.
Over the past decade 24 countries rose and 17 fell. The largest increase was in Costa Rica (up 1,310.9%), and the largest decrease in Ireland (down 47.0%).
Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denmark | 4.74 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 18.7% | rising |
| 1 | Croatia | 3.1 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 16.5% | falling |
| 1 | Latvia | 2.84 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 46.9% | rising |
| 2 | Norway | 4.04 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 7.0% | flat |
| 2 | Netherlands | 2.78 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 1.7% | falling |
| 3 | Belgium | 3.38 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 32.3% | falling |
| 3 | Estonia | 2.42 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 12.3% | rising |
| 4 | Iceland | 3.36 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 31.9% | rising |
| 4 | Slovenia | 2.23 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 0.9% | falling |
| 5 | Sweden | 3.25 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 18.7% | falling |
| 5 | Lithuania | 2.17 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 10.7% | rising |
| 6 | New Zealand | 3.2 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 33.5% | rising |
| 6 | Poland | 1.96 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 18.3% | falling |
| 7 | Israel | 3.18 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 29.6% | rising |
| 7 | Türkiye | 0.408 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 12.1% | rising |
| 8 | Finland | 3.14 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 16.7% | falling |
| 9 | Australia | 3.13 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 28.9% | rising |
| 10 | Spain | 2.9 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 17.6% | rising |
| 11 | Luxembourg | 2.7 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 9.3% | falling |
| 12 | Switzerland | 2.42 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 1.3% | rising |
| 13 | Bulgaria | 2.14 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 42.4% | rising |
| 14 | OECD | 2.04 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 0.9% | falling |
| 15 | Czechia | 2.03 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 7.5% | falling |
| 16 | Austria | 1.98 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 12.5% | falling |
| 17 | Portugal | 1.96 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 1.3% | falling |
| 18 | Germany | 1.96 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 19.6% | falling |
| 19 | Italy | 1.86 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 17.0% | falling |
| 20 | France | 1.84 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 11.1% | falling |
| 21 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 1.68 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | down 14.4% | rising |
| 22 | Hungary | 1.48 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 30.4% | falling |
| 23 | Greece | 1.24 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 38.4% | rising |
| 24 | Japan | 1.23 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 28.0% | rising |
| 25 | Ireland | 1.16 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 47.0% | falling |
| 26 | Romania | 1.09 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 30.1% | falling |
| 27 | United States of America | 0.813 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | down 32.5% | flat |
| 28 | Costa Rica | 0.776 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 1,310.9% | volatile |
| 29 | Canada | 0.627 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | down 23.8% | falling |
| 30 | Chile | 0.545 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | down 24.1% | falling |
| 31 | Colombia | 0.092 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 91.7% | rising |
| 32 | Mexico | 0.081 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 131.4% | rising |
| 33 | Peru | 0.08 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 122.2% | rising |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovak Republic 2.06 Percentage of GDP
- Korea 0.888 Percentage of GDP
About this data
The OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) has been developed in order to serve a growing need for indicators of social policy. It includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory and voluntary private social expenditure at programme level. SOCX provides a unique tool for monitoring trends in aggregate social expenditure and analysing changes in its composition. It covers 38 OECD countries and some accession countries for the period 1980-2021/23 and estimates for aggregates for 2022-24. A Social Expenditure Update can be found under www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/social-expenditure-database-socx.htm. The main social policy areas are as follows: Old age, Survivors, Incapacity-related benefits, Health, Family, Active labor market programmes, Unemployment, Housing, and Other social policy areas. This version also includes estimates of net total social spending for 2021 for 38 OECD countries. SOCX aggregated data as well as sources and methodology are described in The OECD SOCX Manual – 2019 edition- A guide to the OECD Social Expenditure Database.