This graphic depicts the social spending in France from 2006 to 2022, as a percentage of GDP. In 2006, around 28 percent of the French GDP was devoted to social benefit. It reached almost 32 percent in 2022.

Graph and download economic data for Government current expenditures: State and local: Income security: Welfare and social services (G161141A027NBEA) from 1959 to 2023 about social assistance, state & local, expenditures, government, services, income, GDP, and USA.

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.

The social welfare expenditure in Sweden was just below 10.8 billion Swedish kronor in 2022. From 2016 to 2020, the total amount of expenditure on social welfare increased, before falling slightly in 2021 and 2022. The total number of recipients has decreased over the past few years.

To help the economically vulnerable

The purpose of social welfare in Sweden is to help the economically vulnerable households to reach a reasonable standard of living through monthly benefits. From 2014, the average monthly amount received has increased, reaching 9,100 in 2022.

 Age of the recipients

The age of the recipients differs between the municipalities in Sweden, depending on the number of inhabitants per age group, the labor market in the municipality, and the education level of the working age population. The most common age of recipients was from 30 to 39 years. This age group consisted of nearly 43,000 of the roughly 300,000 recipients.

Lebanon Social Expenditures: Year to Date: Others: Other Social Spending Allowance (SN) data was reported at 25.000 LBP bn in Jun 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 52.000 LBP bn for Dec 2014. Lebanon Social Expenditures: Year to Date: Others: Other Social Spending Allowance (SN) data is updated quarterly, averaging 18.000 LBP bn from Sep 2005 (Median) to Jun 2015, with 37 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 52.000 LBP bn in Dec 2014 and a record low of 6.000 LBP bn in Mar 2010. Lebanon Social Expenditures: Year to Date: Others: Other Social Spending Allowance (SN) data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Finance. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Lebanon – Table LB.F008: Social Expenditures: ytd.

Social protection spending in the United Kingdom reached 383.9 billion British pounds in 2024/25, compared with 364.7 billion pounds in the previous year.

The Global Welfare Dataset (GLOW) is a cross-national panel dataset that aims at facilitating comparative social policy research on the Global North and Global South. The database includes 381 variables on 61 countries from years between 1989 and 2015. The database has four main categories of data: welfare, development, economy and politics.The data is the result of an original data compilation assembled by using information from several international and domestic sources. Missing data was supplemented by domestic sources where available. We sourced data primarily from these international databases:Atlas of Social Protection Indicators of Resilience and Equity – ASPIRE (World Bank)Government Finance Statistics (International Monetary Fund)Social Expenditure Database – SOCX (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)Social Protection Statistics – ESPROSS (Eurostat)Social Security Inquiry (International Labour Organization)Social Security Programs Throughout the World (Social Security Administration)Statistics on Income and Living Conditions – EU-SILC (European Union)World Development Indicators (World Bank)However, much of the welfare data from these sources are not compatible between all country cases. We conducted an extensive review of the compatibility of the data and computed compatible figures where possible. Since the heart of this database is the provision of social assistance across a global sample, we applied the ASPIRE methodology in order to build comparable indicators across European and Emerging Market economies. Specifically, we constructed indicators of average per capita transfers and coverage rates for social assistance programs for all the country cases not included in the World Bank’s ASPIRE dataset (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.)For details, please see:https://glow.ku.edu.tr/about

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 for the period 1980-2019/21 and estimates for aggregates for 2020-22. A Social Expenditure Update can be found under www.oecd.org/social/expenditure.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 2019 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.

In 2020, South Korea's total social expenditure was an estimated 302 trillion South Korean won, an increase from the previous year. Social spending has risen steadily over the past decades.

Argentina Central Govt Expenditure: Social: Social Security data was reported at 14,531,717.982 ARS mn in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 6,523,234.930 ARS mn for 2022. Argentina Central Govt Expenditure: Social: Social Security data is updated yearly, averaging 17,990.900 ARS mn from Dec 1980 (Median) to 2023, with 44 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14,531,717.982 ARS mn in 2023 and a record low of 0.000 ARS mn in 1980. Argentina Central Govt Expenditure: Social: Social Security data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Treasury. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Argentina – Table AR.F014: Government Expenditure: Central: Current Price.

This dataset covers the link between natural resources booms and social policy expenditure for all countries of the Global South.

All countries with “total natural resources rents” (World Bank data) above 15% have been checked. Economic booms have been defined as “GDP growth (annual %)” (World Bank data) showing at least three years of consecutive economic growth amounting to a total of at least 20% in GDP growth. For each country, all consecutive years where the total natural resource rent stays above 15% and GDP is growing have been taken together as one natural resource boom phase.

For each natural resource boom phase state social policy expenditure has been taken from the World Bank database, the IMF and the Global State Revenues and Expenditures Dataset (GSRE). For 45 cases from 37 countries there are sufficient data for analysis. For 23 cases, data on social spending are not sufficient to establish a trend over the full boom period for at least one type of social policy expenditure.

For the 45 cases, we calculate the slope of the linear trendline for all types of social expenditure as share of GDP for which data are available. We sort all cases for which sufficient data are available into three groups: (1) social spending increases in line with GDP (i.e., average increase = flat trendline for spending as share of GDP, marked as “=” in the dataset), (2) state social spending gets a substantially higher share of GDP (operationalized as a trendline slope higher than +7%, marked as “+” in the dataset) or (3) the share of GDP devoted to social spending by the state decreases (slope of the trendline below -7%, marked as “–” in the dataset).

This dataset contains the full data collection in one Excel file (sheet 1 contains all original data for all countries, sheets 2-4 shows the trendline scopes for all case countries and sheet 5 lists all sources used by country). This dataset also contains a pdf file with a detailed description of data collection.

New in this version: Data for the trendline slope have been added for five years prior to and after each natural resource boom. The description of data collection (pdf file) has been updated.

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.

Italy's expenditure on social protection reached ** percent of the country's GDP in 2022. It peaked in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that caused a deep sanitary, economic, labor, and social crisis in the country. Social expenditure includes cash benefits, direct in-kind provision of goods and services, and tax breaks with social purposes, usually targeted at low-income households, the elderly, disabled, sick, unemployed, or young people.

Albania General Govt: Expenditure: Year to Date: Social Protection data was reported at 226,753.000 ALL mn in Dec 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 192,057.000 ALL mn for Nov 2024. Albania General Govt: Expenditure: Year to Date: Social Protection data is updated monthly, averaging 40,726.500 ALL mn from Jan 1997 (Median) to Dec 2024, with 334 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 226,753.000 ALL mn in Dec 2024 and a record low of 1,734.000 ALL mn in Jan 1997. Albania General Govt: Expenditure: Year to Date: Social Protection data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Finance and Economy. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Albania – Table AL.F005: General Government Expenditure: ytd: by Function.

Yemen Government Expenditure: SB: Social Benefits data was reported at 23,167.000 YER mn in Sep 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 20,466.000 YER mn for Aug 2014. Yemen Government Expenditure: SB: Social Benefits data is updated monthly, averaging 5,997.000 YER mn from Jan 2007 (Median) to Sep 2014, with 93 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 44,426.000 YER mn in Dec 2013 and a record low of 1,668.000 YER mn in Jan 2007. Yemen Government Expenditure: SB: Social Benefits data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Finance. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Yemen – Table YE.F001: Government Revenue and Expenditure.

Russia Consolidated Government Expenditure: Year to Date: SC: Social Security: Social Welfare data was reported at 2,454.371 RUB bn in Jul 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 2,147.964 RUB bn for Jun 2022. Russia Consolidated Government Expenditure: Year to Date: SC: Social Security: Social Welfare data is updated monthly, averaging 667.242 RUB bn from Jan 2005 (Median) to Jul 2022, with 210 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,040.415 RUB bn in Dec 2021 and a record low of 5.900 RUB bn in Jan 2005. Russia Consolidated Government Expenditure: Year to Date: SC: Social Security: Social Welfare data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Treasury. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Government and Public Finance – Table RU.FA004: Consolidated Government Expenditure: ytd.

This table provides an overview of social protection expenditure in the Netherlands. Social protection encompasses all interventions from public or private bodies intended to relieve households and individuals of the burden of a defined set of risks or needs, provided that there is neither a simultaneous reciprocal nor an individual arrangement involved. This includes benefits provided by social assistance schemes, social insurance funds, pension funds, benefits directly paid by employers, and direct service provision to households. Benefits can be provided in kind or in cash, and benefits can be means-tested or non means-tested.

The defined set of risks and needs within social protection can be classified in eight functions according to the European System of Integrated Social PROtection Statistics (ESSPROS). In addition, social protection expenditure is classified as provided in cash or in kind, or provided as means-tested or non means-tested benefits. Social protection expenditure is allocated to the period in which the rights for the transaction arose (transaction basis), and not to the period in which the transaction actually took place (cash basis).

Data available from: Yearly figures from 1995

Status of the figures: The figures in this table are provisional at the time of first publication. Upon the second publication one year later, the figures will become definitive.

Changes as of 28 November 2024: Provisional figures for 2023 have been published. The figures for 2021 and 2022 have become final.

When will new figures be published? New figures will be published 11 months after the respective calendar year ends. Previous provisional figures will then become final. More information on the revision policy of National Accounts can be found under 'relevant articles' under paragraph 3.

Spending Data of Head 170 - Social Welfare Department

China Government Expenditure: Social Security & Employment data was reported at 503.000 RMB bn in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 399.100 RMB bn for Dec 2024. China Government Expenditure: Social Security & Employment data is updated monthly, averaging 149.000 RMB bn from Jan 2007 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 203 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 503.000 RMB bn in Mar 2025 and a record low of 22.240 RMB bn in Jan 2007. China Government Expenditure: Social Security & Employment data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Finance. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Government and Public Finance – Table CN.FA: Government Revenue and Expenditure: Monthly.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Social and Welfare Statistics (previously Social Expenditure Database) available via the UK Data Service includes the following databases:

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. The main social policy areas are as follows: old age, survivors, incapacity-related benefits, health, family, active labour market programmes, unemployment, housing, and other social policy areas.

The Income Distribution database contains comparable data on the distribution of household income, providing both a point of reference for judging the performance of any country and an opportunity to assess the role of common drivers as well as drivers that are country-specific. They also allow governments to draw on the experience of different countries in order to learn "what works best" in narrowing income disparities and poverty. But achieving comparability in this field is also difficult, as national practices differ widely in terms of concepts, measures, and statistical sources.

The Child Wellbeing dataset compare 21 policy-focussed measures of child well-being in six areas, chosen to cover the major aspects of children’s lives: material well being; housing and environment; education; health and safety; risk behaviours; and quality of school life.

The Better Life Index: There is more to life than the cold numbers of GDP and economic statistics. This Index allows you to compare well-being across countries, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life.

The Social Expenditure data were first provided by the UK Data Service in March 2004.