Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP in Australia
Australia: Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP was 3.13 Percentage of GDP in 2022. ▲ Rising
Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP in Australia, 1980–2022
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.
Analysis
Australia recorded 3.13 Percentage of GDP for public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp in 2022. That is the highest value across all 43 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.2% on the previous year and up 28.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp in Australia peaked at 3.13 Percentage of GDP in 2022 and was at its lowest, 0.884 Percentage of GDP, in 1981.
That places Australia 9th out of 33 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 43 years of available data.
Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP in Australia, year by year
| Year | Percentage of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 0.915 Percentage of GDP | — |
| 1981 | 0.884 Percentage of GDP | -3.4% |
| 1982 | 0.949 Percentage of GDP | +7.4% |
| 1983 | 0.989 Percentage of GDP | +4.2% |
| 1984 | 1.02 Percentage of GDP | +3.0% |
| 1985 | 1.04 Percentage of GDP | +1.7% |
| 1986 | 1.05 Percentage of GDP | +1.0% |
| 1987 | 1.04 Percentage of GDP | -0.2% |
| 1988 | 1 Percentage of GDP | -3.9% |
| 1989 | 1.17 Percentage of GDP | +16.4% |
| 1990 | 1.73 Percentage of GDP | +48.2% |
| 1991 | 1.61 Percentage of GDP | -6.7% |
| 1992 | 2.17 Percentage of GDP | +34.5% |
| 1993 | 2.31 Percentage of GDP | +6.6% |
| 1994 | 2.27 Percentage of GDP | -2.1% |
| 1995 | 2.36 Percentage of GDP | +4.1% |
| 1996 | 2.4 Percentage of GDP | +1.8% |
| 1997 | 2.39 Percentage of GDP | -0.4% |
| 1998 | 2.59 Percentage of GDP | +8.4% |
| 1999 | 2.57 Percentage of GDP | -1.0% |
| 2000 | 2.55 Percentage of GDP | -0.6% |
| 2001 | 2.53 Percentage of GDP | -0.9% |
| 2002 | 2.52 Percentage of GDP | -0.4% |
| 2003 | 2.46 Percentage of GDP | -2.5% |
| 2004 | 2.35 Percentage of GDP | -4.4% |
| 2005 | 2.26 Percentage of GDP | -3.6% |
| 2006 | 2.18 Percentage of GDP | -3.5% |
| 2007 | 2.17 Percentage of GDP | -0.7% |
| 2008 | 2.31 Percentage of GDP | +6.6% |
| 2009 | 2.33 Percentage of GDP | +0.7% |
| 2010 | 2.33 Percentage of GDP | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 2.39 Percentage of GDP | +2.8% |
| 2012 | 2.43 Percentage of GDP | +1.8% |
| 2013 | 2.5 Percentage of GDP | +2.8% |
| 2014 | 2.56 Percentage of GDP | +2.2% |
| 2015 | 2.54 Percentage of GDP | -0.5% |
| 2016 | 2.35 Percentage of GDP | -7.5% |
| 2017 | 2.25 Percentage of GDP | -4.5% |
| 2018 | 2.03 Percentage of GDP | -9.6% |
| 2019 | 2.87 Percentage of GDP | +41.3% |
| 2020 | 3.12 Percentage of GDP | +8.6% |
| 2021 | 3.13 Percentage of GDP | +0.3% |
| 2022 | 3.13 Percentage of GDP | +0.2% |
Australia compared with similar countries
- Australia's 3.13 Percentage of GDP is above the median for high income countries, which is 1.98 Percentage of GDP, 1.6× the median. (29 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP in Australia changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | +48.2% | 1.17 Percentage of GDP | 1.73 Percentage of GDP |
| 2019 | +41.3% | 2.03 Percentage of GDP | 2.87 Percentage of GDP |
| 1992 | +34.5% | 1.61 Percentage of GDP | 2.17 Percentage of GDP |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1.01 Percentage of GDP | 0.884 Percentage of GDP | 1.17 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.24 Percentage of GDP | 1.61 Percentage of GDP | 2.59 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2000s | 2.37 Percentage of GDP | 2.17 Percentage of GDP | 2.55 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2010s | 2.42 Percentage of GDP | 2.03 Percentage of GDP | 2.87 Percentage of GDP | 10 |
| 2020s | 3.13 Percentage of GDP | 3.12 Percentage of GDP | 3.13 Percentage of GDP | 3 |
Countries ranked near Australia
- 6 New Zealand 3.2 Percentage of GDP compare
- 6 Poland 1.96 Percentage of GDP compare
- 7 Israel 3.18 Percentage of GDP compare
- 7 Türkiye 0.408 Percentage of GDP compare
- 8 Finland 3.14 Percentage of GDP compare
- 10 Spain 2.9 Percentage of GDP compare
- 11 Luxembourg 2.7 Percentage of GDP compare
- 12 Switzerland 2.42 Percentage of GDP compare
More economy & growth data for Australia
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 04 - Annual real GDP 1.36 Percent per annum (2029)
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 02 - Annual real GDP 2.26 Percent per annum (2029)
- Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$), gaps -4.55 billion BoP, current US$ (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$), per unit -0.0025 BoP, current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$), per capita -164.69 BoP, current US$ per person (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), gaps filled 36.52 billion BoP, current US$ (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), annual -32.02 % change on previous year (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), per unit 0.0203 BoP, current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), per capita 1,323 BoP, current US$ per person (2025)
- Total reserves (includes gold, current US$), annual growth rate 20.24 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp in Australia?
- Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp in Australia was 3.13 Percentage of GDP in 2022, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 3.13 Percentage of GDP in 2022.
- What is the lowest public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.884 Percentage of GDP in 1981.
- How does Australia rank for public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp?
- Australia ranks 9th out of 33 countries with data for 2022.
- Is public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % gdp rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 28.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Public expenditure on disability and sickness cash benefits in % GDP — Social expenditure. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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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.