Public expenditure on old-age and survivors 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 old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP — Social expenditure is currently reported for 41 countries. The highest value is 16.18 Percentage of GDP in Greece; the lowest is 1.86 Percentage of GDP in Peru.
The median across all reporting countries is 7.52 Percentage of GDP, and the mean is 8.08 Percentage of GDP.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 9.
Over the past decade 28 countries rose and 13 fell. The largest increase was in Mexico (up 178.3%), and the largest decrease in Ireland (down 45.1%).
Public expenditure on old-age and survivors cash benefits in % GDP: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greece | 16.18 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 0.4% | rising |
| 1 | Poland | 11.19 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 5.8% | rising |
| 1 | Croatia | 8.89 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 7.6% | rising |
| 2 | Italy | 16.09 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 5.3% | rising |
| 2 | Slovenia | 10.62 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 5.2% | rising |
| 3 | Austria | 14.02 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 9.1% | rising |
| 3 | Latvia | 7.52 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 10.4% | rising |
| 4 | France | 13.4 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | down 1.3% | rising |
| 4 | Estonia | 6.78 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 1.6% | rising |
| 5 | Portugal | 12.92 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 2.1% | rising |
| 5 | Lithuania | 6.5 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 6.5% | rising |
| 6 | Spain | 12.28 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 28.0% | rising |
| 6 | Netherlands | 6.44 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 5.6% | falling |
| 7 | Finland | 12.18 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 24.0% | rising |
| 7 | Türkiye | 6.08 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 13.6% | volatile |
| 8 | Germany | 10.79 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 5.1% | flat |
| 9 | Belgium | 10.72 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 6.7% | rising |
| 10 | Japan | 9.15 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | down 5.4% | rising |
| 11 | Bulgaria | 8.9 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 12.1% | rising |
| 12 | Romania | 8.85 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 8.3% | rising |
| 13 | Luxembourg | 8.61 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 12.4% | falling |
| 14 | Czechia | 8.19 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 1.1% | rising |
| 15 | OECD | 8.04 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 4.2% | rising |
| 16 | Sweden | 7.99 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 1.5% | rising |
| 17 | Hungary | 7.62 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 21.2% | rising |
| 18 | Denmark | 7.51 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 1.4% | rising |
| 19 | United States of America | 7.31 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 6.5% | rising |
| 20 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 7.07 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | down 17.8% | rising |
| 21 | Switzerland | 6.56 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 6.1% | rising |
| 22 | Norway | 6.46 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 17.7% | rising |
| 23 | Canada | 5.87 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 11.5% | rising |
| 24 | Colombia | 5.7 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 4.3% | flat |
| 25 | Mexico | 5.32 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 178.3% | volatile |
| 26 | New Zealand | 5.12 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 5.8% | falling |
| 27 | Costa Rica | 4.94 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | up 9.3% | rising |
| 28 | Israel | 4.46 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | down 6.4% | flat |
| 29 | Chile | 3.7 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 23.6% | falling |
| 30 | Australia | 3.41 Percentage of GDP | 2022 | down 12.9% | rising |
| 31 | Ireland | 2.93 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 45.1% | falling |
| 32 | Iceland | 2.9 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | up 46.9% | rising |
| 33 | Peru | 1.86 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | down 24.3% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovak Republic 7.43 Percentage of GDP
- Korea 3.81 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.