Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States

United States: Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) was 0.604 Percentage of GDP in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
0.604 Percentage of GDP
Change on year
down 8.2%
World rank
32nd
of 33 countries
All-time high
0.846 Percentage of GDP
in 2002
All-time low
0.408 Percentage of GDP
in 1997
Years of data
44
1980–2023

Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States, 1980–2023

00.20.40.60.81980200120231980: 0.767 Percentage of GDP1981: 0.707 Percentage of GDP1982: 0.638 Percentage of GDP1983: 0.651 Percentage of GDP1984: 0.62 Percentage of GDP1985: 0.604 Percentage of GDP1986: 0.429 Percentage of GDP1987: 0.43 Percentage of GDP1988: 0.435 Percentage of GDP1989: 0.433 Percentage of GDP1990: 0.456 Percentage of GDP1991: 0.566 Percentage of GDP1992: 0.573 Percentage of GDP1993: 0.59 Percentage of GDP1994: 0.585 Percentage of GDP1995: 0.591 Percentage of GDP1996: 0.543 Percentage of GDP1997: 0.408 Percentage of GDP1998: 0.789 Percentage of GDP1999: 0.779 Percentage of GDP2000: 0.792 Percentage of GDP2001: 0.831 Percentage of GDP2002: 0.846 Percentage of GDP2003: 0.797 Percentage of GDP2004: 0.745 Percentage of GDP2005: 0.706 Percentage of GDP2006: 0.709 Percentage of GDP2007: 0.702 Percentage of GDP2008: 0.701 Percentage of GDP2009: 0.736 Percentage of GDP2010: 0.75 Percentage of GDP2011: 0.719 Percentage of GDP2012: 0.684 Percentage of GDP2013: 0.664 Percentage of GDP2014: 0.642 Percentage of GDP2015: 0.64 Percentage of GDP2016: 0.636 Percentage of GDP2017: 0.627 Percentage of GDP2018: 0.617 Percentage of GDP2019: 0.616 Percentage of GDP2020: 0.659 Percentage of GDP2021: 0.622 Percentage of GDP2022: 0.658 Percentage of GDP2023: 0.604 Percentage of GDP

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of GDP.

Analysis

In 2023, public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States stood at 0.604 Percentage of GDP.

Compared with earlier readings it is down 8.2% on the previous year and down 9.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States peaked at 0.846 Percentage of GDP in 2002 and was at its lowest, 0.408 Percentage of GDP, in 1997.

That places United States 32nd out of 33 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 44 years of available data.

Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States, year by year

Annual values for Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in kind) in % GDP — Social expenditure in United States, 1980 to 2023.
Year Percentage of GDP Change
1980 0.767 Percentage of GDP
1981 0.707 Percentage of GDP -7.8%
1982 0.638 Percentage of GDP -9.8%
1983 0.651 Percentage of GDP +2.0%
1984 0.62 Percentage of GDP -4.8%
1985 0.604 Percentage of GDP -2.6%
1986 0.429 Percentage of GDP -29.0%
1987 0.43 Percentage of GDP +0.2%
1988 0.435 Percentage of GDP +1.2%
1989 0.433 Percentage of GDP -0.5%
1990 0.456 Percentage of GDP +5.3%
1991 0.566 Percentage of GDP +24.1%
1992 0.573 Percentage of GDP +1.2%
1993 0.59 Percentage of GDP +3.0%
1994 0.585 Percentage of GDP -0.8%
1995 0.591 Percentage of GDP +1.0%
1996 0.543 Percentage of GDP -8.1%
1997 0.408 Percentage of GDP -24.9%
1998 0.789 Percentage of GDP +93.4%
1999 0.779 Percentage of GDP -1.3%
2000 0.792 Percentage of GDP +1.7%
2001 0.831 Percentage of GDP +4.9%
2002 0.846 Percentage of GDP +1.8%
2003 0.797 Percentage of GDP -5.8%
2004 0.745 Percentage of GDP -6.5%
2005 0.706 Percentage of GDP -5.2%
2006 0.709 Percentage of GDP +0.4%
2007 0.702 Percentage of GDP -1.0%
2008 0.701 Percentage of GDP -0.1%
2009 0.736 Percentage of GDP +5.0%
2010 0.75 Percentage of GDP +1.9%
2011 0.719 Percentage of GDP -4.1%
2012 0.684 Percentage of GDP -4.9%
2013 0.664 Percentage of GDP -2.9%
2014 0.642 Percentage of GDP -3.3%
2015 0.64 Percentage of GDP -0.3%
2016 0.636 Percentage of GDP -0.6%
2017 0.627 Percentage of GDP -1.4%
2018 0.617 Percentage of GDP -1.6%
2019 0.616 Percentage of GDP -0.2%
2020 0.659 Percentage of GDP +7.0%
2021 0.622 Percentage of GDP -5.6%
2022 0.658 Percentage of GDP +5.8%
2023 0.604 Percentage of GDP -8.2%

United States compared with similar countries

  • United States's 0.604 Percentage of GDP is below the median for high income countries, which is 2.11 Percentage of GDP, 29% of the median. (29 countries reporting)

Biggest year-on-year movements

Years where Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States 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.

YearChange FromTo
1998 +93.4% 0.408 Percentage of GDP 0.789 Percentage of GDP
1986 -29.0% 0.604 Percentage of GDP 0.429 Percentage of GDP

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1980s 0.5714 Percentage of GDP 0.429 Percentage of GDP 0.767 Percentage of GDP 10
1990s 0.588 Percentage of GDP 0.408 Percentage of GDP 0.789 Percentage of GDP 10
2000s 0.7565 Percentage of GDP 0.701 Percentage of GDP 0.846 Percentage of GDP 10
2010s 0.6595 Percentage of GDP 0.616 Percentage of GDP 0.75 Percentage of GDP 10
2020s 0.6358 Percentage of GDP 0.604 Percentage of GDP 0.659 Percentage of GDP 4

Countries ranked near United States

  1. 29 Costa Rica 1.32 Percentage of GDP compare
  2. 30 Portugal 1.32 Percentage of GDP compare
  3. 31 Peru 1.14 Percentage of GDP compare
  4. 33 Mexico 0.548 Percentage of GDP compare

See the full ranking of 43 places →

More economy & growth data for United States

All data for United States →

Frequently asked questions

What is public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States?
Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States was 0.604 Percentage of GDP in 2023, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
What is the highest public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) recorded in United States?
The highest recorded value was 0.846 Percentage of GDP in 2002.
What is the lowest public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) recorded in United States?
The lowest recorded value was 0.408 Percentage of GDP in 1997.
How does United States rank for public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in)?
United States ranks 32nd out of 33 countries with data for 2023.
Is public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) rising or falling in United States?
Over the last ten years it is down 9.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this United States data come from?
The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in kind) in % GDP — Social expenditure. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 44 observations, free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 19 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/stat/public-expenditure-on-family-by-type-of-expenditure-cash-and-in-kind-in-percent-gdp/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://economy.statizoid.com/stat/public-expenditure-on-family-by-type-of-expenditure-cash-and-in-kind-in-percent-gdp/united-states/">Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in) in United States</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in kind) in % GDP — Social expenditure
Unit
Percentage of GDP
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
43 places, 1,481 data points, 1980–2023
Last refreshed

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.