Social spending as share of GDP in Sweden
Sweden: Social spending as share of GDP was 0.5% in 2021. ▲ Rising
Social spending as share of GDP in Sweden, 1980–2021
Source: OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Sweden recorded 0.5% for social spending as share of gdp in 2021.
That represents a change of down 14.7% on the previous year and down 18.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, social spending as share of gdp in Sweden peaked at 1.4% in 2016 and was at its lowest, 0.4%, in 1980.
Sweden ranks 18th of 42 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 42 years of available data.
Social spending as share of GDP in Sweden, year by year
| Year | % of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 0.4% | — |
| 1981 | 0.4% | +4.5% |
| 1982 | 0.5% | +15.7% |
| 1983 | 0.5% | +7.5% |
| 1984 | 0.5% | +6.0% |
| 1985 | 0.6% | +8.8% |
| 1986 | 0.7% | +12.6% |
| 1987 | 0.8% | +14.5% |
| 1988 | 0.8% | -0.1% |
| 1989 | 0.5% | -38.3% |
| 1990 | 0.5% | +2.1% |
| 1991 | 0.6% | +15.3% |
| 1992 | 0.6% | +14.2% |
| 1993 | 1.1% | +70.6% |
| 1994 | 1.0% | -7.4% |
| 1995 | 0.9% | -7.2% |
| 1996 | 0.9% | -3.2% |
| 1997 | 0.9% | -2.3% |
| 1998 | 0.8% | -10.7% |
| 1999 | 0.7% | -10.0% |
| 2000 | 0.6% | -9.9% |
| 2001 | 0.6% | -3.1% |
| 2002 | 0.6% | -1.3% |
| 2003 | 0.6% | +4.3% |
| 2004 | 0.6% | -4.7% |
| 2005 | 0.6% | -5.1% |
| 2006 | 0.6% | -2.4% |
| 2007 | 0.6% | -1.1% |
| 2008 | 0.6% | +5.6% |
| 2009 | 0.7% | +12.9% |
| 2010 | 0.7% | +0.6% |
| 2011 | 0.6% | -2.8% |
| 2012 | 0.7% | +4.2% |
| 2013 | 0.7% | +5.9% |
| 2014 | 0.8% | +5.3% |
| 2015 | 0.9% | +24.6% |
| 2016 | 1.4% | +45.1% |
| 2017 | 1.1% | -21.6% |
| 2018 | 0.8% | -22.9% |
| 2019 | 0.7% | -16.5% |
| 2020 | 0.6% | -9.8% |
| 2021 | 0.5% | -14.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.8% | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.8% | 0.5% | 1.1% | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.8% | 0.6% | 1.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 2 |
Countries ranked near Sweden
More economy & growth data for Sweden
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 04 - Annual real GDP 1.62 Percent per annum (2029)
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 02 - Annual real GDP 2.12 Percent per annum (2029)
- Exports of goods and services (current LCU), annual growth rate 0.3991 % change on previous year (2025)
- Exports of goods and services (current LCU), per unit of GDP 5.23 current LCU per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Exports of goods and services (current LCU), per capita 330,025 current LCU per person (2025)
- Exports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$), annual growth rate 3.93 % change on previous year (2025)
- Exports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$), per unit of GDP 0.4766 constant 2015 US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Exports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$), per capita 30,092 constant 2015 US$ per person (2025)
- Gross fixed capital formation (current US$), annual growth rate 11.16 % change on previous year (2025)
- Gross fixed capital formation (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.2523 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is social spending as share of gdp in Sweden?
- Social spending as share of gdp in Sweden was 0.5% in 2021, according to OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest social spending as share of gdp recorded in Sweden?
- The highest recorded value was 1.4% in 2016.
- What is the lowest social spending as share of gdp recorded in Sweden?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.4% in 1980.
- How does Sweden rank for social spending as share of gdp?
- Sweden ranks 18th out of 42 countries with data for 2021.
- Is social spending as share of gdp rising or falling in Sweden?
- Over the last ten years it is down 18.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sweden data come from?
- The figures come from OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Social spending as share of GDP. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 42 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
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.