33/2020 - 27 February 2020

General government expenditure in the EU in 2018

Highest proportion of government expenditure
goes to social protection and health
Total government expenditure continued to decrease
In 2018, total government expenditure in the European Union (EU) amounted to 46.7% of gross domestic product
(GDP). This share has steadily decreased since 2012, when it stood at 49.7% of GDP.
Among the main functions of general government expenditure in the EU, ‘social protection’ is by far the most
important, equivalent to 19.2% of GDP in 2018. The next most important areas are ‘health’ (7.0%), ‘general public
services’ (6.0%) such as external affairs and public debt transactions, ‘education’ (4.6%) and ‘economic affairs’
(4.4%). The functions ‘public order and safety’ (1.7%), ‘defence’ (1.2%), ‘recreation, culture and religion’ (1.1%),
‘environmental protection’ (0.8%) and ‘housing and community amenities’ (0.6%) have more limited weights.
This information on general government total expenditure by function comes from an online publication issued by
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Share of social protection expenditure related to old age highest in Greece and Finland and lowest
in Ireland
Social protection represented the most important area of general government expenditure in 2018 in all EU Member
States. The ratio of government social protection expenditure to GDP varied across EU Member States from less
than 10% in Ireland (9.0%) to nearly a quarter in Finland (24.1%) and France (23.9%). Five EU Member States –
Finland, France, Denmark, Italy and Austria - devoted at least 20% of GDP to social protection, while Ireland,
Malta, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria and Czechia each spent 12% of GDP or less on social protection.

Social protection expenditure can be further broken down into a number of detailed groups. The group ‘old age’,
which includes pensions, accounted for 10.4% of GDP in the EU in 2018. It made up the largest part of social
protection expenditure in all EU Member States, with the highest shares being registered in Finland (13.6%), followed
by France and Italy (both 13.3%), Greece (13.2%) as well as Austria (12.4%). In contrast, Ireland (3.2%) recorded
the lowest share, followed by Cyprus (6.1%), Lithuania (6.2%) and the Netherlands (6.4%).

Government expenditure on health highest in Denmark, on education highest in Sweden

With shares of at least 8% of GDP in 2018, Denmark (8.3%), Austria (8.2%) and France (8.1%) recorded the highest
ratios to GDP devoted to health among EU Member States. The highest ratios to GDP of government expenditure
on general public services were observed in Greece and Hungary (both 8.3%), Finland (8.0%) and Italy (7.9%).
For education, the highest shares were registered in Sweden (6.9%), Denmark (6.4%) as well as Belgium and
Estonia (both 6.2%).
The highest share of government expenditure on economic affairs in 2018 was recorded in Cyprus (9.9% of GDP),
ahead of Hungary (7.7%), Bulgaria and Croatia (both 6.7%) as well as Belgium (6.6%). For public order & safety,
shares were highest in Bulgaria (2.5%), Croatia (2.4%) and Hungary (2.3%).
In 2018, at least 2% of GDP was spent on defence in Latvia (2.1%), Estonia and Greece (both 2.0%). The highest
shares of government expenditure on recreation, culture & religion were recorded in Hungary (3.2%) and Estonia
(2.0%), on environmental protection in the Netherlands (1.4%), Belgium and Greece (both 1.3%), and on housing
& community amenities in Croatia (1.7%) and Cyprus (1.5%).
Evolution of general government total expenditure
During the first three years of the economic and financial crisis (2007-2009), government expenditure as a percentage
of GDP grew in the EU. It increased from 45.6% of GDP in 2007 to 50.6% in 2009, which was partially due to a lower
GDP. Apart from an increase between the years 2011 and 2012 (from 49.1% of GDP to 49.7%), it has steadily
decreased ever since, and remained stable at 46.7% of GDP between 2017 and 2018. This gradual decrease was
partly the result of the fiscal consolidation measures, renewed economic growth and counter-cyclical reactions of
government expenditure. In recent years, one-off expenditure to support financial institutions has been decreasing.

Not all the functions of government expenditure evolved the same between 2007 and 2018. Some of the functions
have a natural tendency to be counter-cyclical, even without a change in policy. For example, government
expenditure on unemployment benefits (part of social protection) is more prone to have a natural counter-cyclical
evolution than other functions, such as government expenditure on education. During an economic crisis, more
people become unemployed, whereas the number of pupils and students is more affected by demographic changes.
Between 2007 and 2009, expenditure on unemployment in the EU increased from 1.5% of GDP to 1.9%, gradually
decreasing to stand at 1.3% in 2018. Social protection expenditure as a whole increased from 17.6% of GDP (2007)
to 19.8% (2009), standing at 19.2% of GDP in 2018. In the same period, government expenditure on education in
the EU rose from 4.7% of GDP (2007) to 5.1% (2009), and then gradually decreased to 4.6% (2018).

Social protection and health expenditure increased in comparison to other general government
expenditure
‘Social protection’ and ‘health’ are the only two functions whose shares in total government expenditure increased
during the period from 2007 to 2018. In the EU, social protection expenditure increased its share in total expenditure
from 38.7% to 41.2%, while expenditure on health increased from 14.3% to 15.0% of total expenditure. In contrast,
government expenditure on ‘public services’, for example, fell from 15.0% of total expenditure in 2007 to 12.9% in
2018.
Over this period, government expenditure on ‘public order and safety’ and ‘environmental protection’ remained
unchanged.
Geographical information
The European Union (EU27) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France,
Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.
The euro area consists of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. Information on dissemination of European statistics from 1
February 2020 is published on the Eurostat website.

Methods and definitions

The Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) classifies government expenditure into ten main divisions (known as
the 'COFOG I level' breakdown): general public services; defence; public order and safety; economic affairs; environmental
protection; housing and community affairs; health; recreation, culture and religion; education; social protection. These divisions
are further broken down into 69 groups (COFOG II level).

For more information

Eurostat database on government finance
Eurostat metadata on general government expenditure by function
Eurostat set of Statistics Explained articles on government expenditure by function
Eurostat news article on government expenditure on environment protection
Eurostat interactive infographic on government expenditure by function
European Statistics Code of Practice

Eurostat Press Office Production of data

Natalia PETROVOVA Floris JANSEN/ Lukas RUCKA/

Tel: +352-4301-33 444 Vaida SAVICKAITĖ/ Kurt WASS/ Laura WAHRIG
[email protected] Tel: +352-4301-37 687
[email protected]

Media requests: [email protected] / Tel: +352-4301-33 408

@EU_Eurostat EurostatStatistics ec.europa.eu/eurostat/

 General government total expenditure by function, 2018
(as % of GDP)
General Public Environ- Housing & Recreation Social protection, of which:
Economic Social
Total public Defence order & mental community Health culture & Education
affairs protection Sickness & Old age Survivors Family & Unemploy- Others
services safety protection amenities religion disability children ment
EU27* 46.7 6.0 1.2 1.7 4.4 0.8 0.6 7.0 1.1 4.6 19.2 2.7 10.4 1.5 1.7 1.3 1.5
EU28 45.8 5.8 1.3 1.7 4.2 0.8 0.6 7.1 1.1 4.7 18.6 2.7 10.1 1.3 1.7 1.2 1.7
Euro area 47.0 6.1 1.2 1.7 4.3 0.8 0.6 7.1 1.1 4.5 19.6 2.7 10.7 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.5
Belgium 52.1 7.1 0.8 1.7 6.6 1.3 0.3 7.6 1.3 6.2 19.3 3.3 9.2 1.6 2.2 1.5 1.4
Bulgaria 36.5 3.3 1.1 2.5 6.7 0.7 1.1 5.0 0.8 3.5 12.0 0.3 8.9 : 2.3 0.1 0.5
Czechia 40.7 4.5 0.9 1.9 6.0 0.9 0.8 7.6 1.5 4.6 12.0 2.2 7.4 0.5 1.1 0.1 0.8
Denmark 50.9 6.6 1.2 0.9 3.3 0.4 0.2 8.3 1.6 6.4 21.9 4.4 8.2 0.0 4.3 2.0 3.0
Germany 44.6 5.7 1.1 1.6 3.4 0.6 0.4 7.2 1.1 4.2 19.4 3.2 9.5 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.7
Estonia 39.1 3.8 2.0 1.9 4.0 0.7 0.3 5.1 2.0 6.2 13.0 2.1 6.7 0.1 2.7 1.2 0.3
Ireland 25.4 3.1 0.3 1.0 2.3 0.4 0.5 5.0 0.5 3.2 9.0 1.8 3.2 0.6 1.3 0.9 1.3
Greece 47.0 8.3 2.0 2.1 4.4 1.3 0.2 5.0 0.8 3.9 19.0 1.5 13.2 2.0 0.8 0.5 1.0
Spain** 41.7 5.6 0.9 1.8 4.1 0.9 0.5 6.0 1.1 4.0 16.9 2.4 9.4 2.2 0.8 1.6 0.5
France** 56.0 6.2 1.8 1.7 5.8 1.0 1.1 8.1 1.4 5.1 23.9 2.9 13.3 1.5 2.2 1.9 2.2
Croatia** 46.0 5.4 1.1 2.4 6.7 0.7 1.7 6.6 1.5 5.3 14.7 2.3 8.0 1.3 1.9 0.5 0.7
Italy 48.4 7.9 1.3 1.8 3.8 0.8 0.5 6.8 0.8 4.0 20.8 1.8 13.3 2.6 1.0 1.1 1.0
Cyprus 43.6 7.0 1.9 1.7 9.9 0.3 1.5 2.7 0.8 5.2 12.5 0.5 6.1 1.4 2.8 0.5 1.2
Latvia 38.5 4.0 2.1 2.2 5.4 0.6 1.1 4.0 1.6 5.8 11.6 2.2 6.8 0.2 1.3 0.5 0.8
Lithuania 34.0 3.5 1.7 1.4 3.0 0.3 0.5 5.9 1.1 4.6 12.1 3.0 6.2 0.3 1.5 0.6 0.5
Luxembourg 41.9 5.1 0.5 1.1 5.2 0.9 0.6 4.7 1.3 4.6 18.0 3.0 9.5 0.0 3.6 1.0 0.9
Hungary 46.7 8.3 0.9 2.3 7.7 0.4 0.7 4.7 3.2 5.1 13.3 2.8 6.7 0.9 1.7 0.3 1.0
Malta 36.6 5.2 0.5 1.2 5.5 1.2 0.4 5.3 1.0 5.2 10.9 0.9 6.7 1.3 0.9 0.2 0.9
Netherlands 42.1 4.2 1.2 1.8 3.8 1.4 0.3 7.6 1.2 5.1 15.5 4.1 6.4 0.1 1.4 1.4 2.1
Austria 48.6 5.9 0.6 1.3 5.9 0.4 0.3 8.2 1.2 4.8 20.1 1.8 12.4 1.3 2.1 1.2 1.3
Poland 41.6 4.4 1.6 2.1 5.0 0.5 0.6 4.8 1.3 5.0 16.2 2.2 9.2 1.6 2.6 0.2 0.4
Portugal*** 43.5 7.4 0.8 1.6 3.8 0.6 0.5 6.3 0.8 4.5 17.1 1.4 11.5 1.7 1.0 0.7 0.8
Romania 34.9 4.6 1.7 2.2 4.2 0.8 0.9 4.7 1.0 3.2 11.6 1.1 8.6 0.1 1.2 0.1 0.6
Slovenia 43.5 5.3 1.0 1.5 4.7 0.5 0.4 6.6 1.4 5.4 16.7 2.1 9.9 1.3 1.8 0.4 1.1
Slovakia** 41.8 5.0 1.0 2.2 5.5 0.8 0.5 7.3 1.1 4.0 14.3 3.1 7.7 0.8 1.0 0.2 1.5
Finland 53.1 8.0 1.2 1.1 4.2 0.2 0.3 7.0 1.5 5.5 24.1 3.1 13.6 0.7 3.0 1.9 1.9
Sweden 49.8 7.1 1.2 1.3 4.3 0.5 0.7 7.0 1.3 6.9 19.5 3.7 10.5 0.2 2.5 1.2 1.4
United Kingdom 40.9 4.7 1.9 1.8 3.2 0.7 0.8 7.5 0.6 4.8 14.9 2.4 8.3 0.1 1.3 0.1 2.8
Iceland 42.0 5.9 0.0 1.4 5.3 0.7 0.6 7.8 3.1 7.3 9.9 3.2 3.1 0.0 2.1 0.5 1.0
Norway 49.2 4.5 1.7 1.2 5.6 0.9 0.8 8.2 1.7 5.4 19.1 6.6 7.1 0.2 3.4 0.4 1.5
Switzerland 33.7 4.6 0.8 1.7 4.0 0.6 0.2 2.2 0.8 5.6 13.3 2.9 6.7 0.3 0.5 1.1 1.8
: Data not available Figures may not add up due to rounding.
* EU27 represents the European Union of 27 Member States after 1 February 2020
** Provisional data
*** Estimated data
Source dataset: gov_10a_exp
 General government expenditure by function, 2018
(as % of total government expenditure)
General Public Environ- Housing & Recreation, Social protection, of which:
Economic Social
public Defence order & mental community Health culture & Education
affairs protection Sickness & Old age Survivors
Family & Unemploy-
Others
services safety protection amenities religion disability children ment
EU27* 12.9 2.6 3.6 9.4 1.7 1.2 15.0 2.5 9.9 41.2 5.9 22.3 3.3 3.7 2.9 3.1
EU28 12.7 2.9 3.7 9.2 1.7 1.3 15.5 2.3 10.2 40.6 5.9 22.0 2.9 3.6 2.5 3.7
Euro area 13.0 2.5 3.5 9.1 1.7 1.2 15.2 2.3 9.6 41.8 5.8 22.7 3.6 3.4 3.1 3.2
Belgium 13.6 1.5 3.3 12.6 2.4 0.6 14.6 2.4 11.9 37.0 6.4 17.7 3.2 4.1 2.8 2.8
Bulgaria 8.9 3.1 6.8 18.2 1.9 2.9 13.6 2.1 9.7 32.8 0.7 24.2 : 6.3 0.2 1.4
Czechia 11.0 2.2 4.6 14.8 2.1 1.9 18.7 3.7 11.4 29.5 5.3 18.1 1.3 2.7 0.4 1.9
Denmark 13.0 2.3 1.8 6.5 0.8 0.5 16.3 3.2 12.6 43.1 8.5 16.2 0.0 8.5 4.0 5.8
Germany 12.7 2.4 3.5 7.6 1.3 0.9 16.2 2.4 9.4 43.6 7.1 21.2 4.2 3.8 3.4 3.8
Estonia 9.8 5.2 4.7 10.2 1.9 0.8 13.1 5.0 15.8 33.3 5.4 17.0 0.2 6.9 3.1 0.8
Ireland 12.2 1.2 4.0 9.2 1.5 2.0 19.8 2.1 12.6 35.4 7.2 12.5 2.4 5.0 3.4 5.0
Greece 17.7 4.3 4.4 9.3 2.8 0.4 10.6 1.7 8.3 40.5 3.2 28.1 4.3 1.8 1.1 2.1
Spain** 13.5 2.1 4.4 9.8 2.1 1.1 14.4 2.7 9.6 40.5 5.8 22.4 5.3 2.0 3.7 1.2
France** 11.0 3.1 3.0 10.3 1.8 2.0 14.5 2.5 9.1 42.6 5.2 23.7 2.7 3.9 3.4 3.9
Croatia** 11.7 2.5 5.2 14.6 1.5 3.6 14.3 3.2 11.5 31.9 5.0 17.5 2.9 4.1 1.0 1.5
Italy 16.2 2.6 3.8 7.9 1.7 1.0 14.1 1.6 8.2 42.9 3.6 27.5 5.4 2.1 2.3 2.1
Cyprus 16.0 4.3 3.9 22.8 0.6 3.5 6.2 1.9 12.0 28.7 1.1 14.0 3.2 6.4 1.1 2.8
Latvia 10.4 5.5 5.7 14.1 1.5 2.9 10.4 4.2 15.1 30.2 5.6 17.7 0.5 3.3 1.2 2.0
Lithuania 10.3 5.1 4.0 8.8 0.9 1.5 17.4 3.3 13.4 35.4 8.7 18.1 0.9 4.3 1.8 1.6
Luxembourg 12.1 1.1 2.6 12.5 2.1 1.4 11.3 3.0 11.0 42.9 7.1 22.7 0.0 8.5 2.4 2.2
Hungary 17.9 2.0 4.8 16.4 0.9 1.5 10.1 6.8 11.0 28.5 6.0 14.3 1.9 3.6 0.5 2.2
Malta 14.1 1.4 3.4 15.0 3.4 1.2 14.6 2.9 14.2 29.8 2.5 18.3 3.4 2.5 0.7 2.4
Netherlands 10.1 2.8 4.4 9.0 3.3 0.8 18.0 2.8 12.1 36.8 9.8 15.3 0.2 3.2 3.4 4.9
Austria 12.2 1.2 2.8 12.0 0.8 0.7 16.8 2.4 9.8 41.4 3.6 25.5 2.8 4.3 2.5 2.7
Poland 10.5 3.9 5.1 12.1 1.2 1.4 11.6 3.2 12.0 39.0 5.4 22.1 3.9 6.1 0.6 0.9
Portugal*** 16.9 1.9 3.8 8.7 1.5 1.1 14.5 1.9 10.5 39.3 3.2 26.4 3.9 2.4 1.6 1.9
Romania 13.2 4.8 6.2 12.0 2.4 2.7 13.3 2.9 9.1 33.3 3.1 24.7 0.3 3.4 0.2 1.7
Slovenia 12.3 2.2 3.5 10.7 1.2 1.0 15.1 3.2 12.4 38.3 4.8 22.8 2.9 4.1 1.0 2.6
Slovakia** 12.0 2.5 5.3 13.2 1.9 1.3 17.5 2.5 9.5 34.3 7.4 18.4 1.9 2.5 0.5 3.6
Finland 15.0 2.2 2.1 8.0 0.4 0.6 13.2 2.8 10.4 45.5 5.8 25.6 1.2 5.6 3.5 3.7
Sweden 14.2 2.4 2.6 8.6 1.0 1.4 14.0 2.6 13.8 39.2 7.4 21.0 0.5 5.0 2.4 2.9
United Kingdom 11.4 4.6 4.4 7.9 1.7 2.0 18.3 1.5 11.8 36.5 5.9 20.2 0.1 3.1 0.2 6.9
Iceland 14.1 0.0 3.4 12.6 1.6 1.3 18.5 7.5 17.4 23.6 7.5 7.3 0.0 4.9 1.3 2.5
Norway 9.1 3.5 2.4 11.4 1.8 1.6 16.8 3.5 11.0 38.9 13.5 14.5 0.4 6.8 0.8 3.0
Switzerland 13.7 2.4 5.0 11.7 1.8 0.5 6.4 2.4 16.5 39.4 8.5 20.0 0.9 1.4 3.2 5.5
: Data not available Figures may not add up due to rounding.
* EU27 represents the European Union of 27 Member States after 1 February 2020
** Provisional data
*** Estimated data
Source dataset: gov_10a_exp
 General government expenditure by function in the EU27*, 2001 - 2018
(as % of GDP)
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Total 47.1 47.4 47.8 47.1 47.0 46.4 45.6 46.7 50.6 50.5 49.1 49.7 49.5 49.0 48.1 47.3 46.7 46.7
General public services 7.8 7.6 7.4 7.2 7.1 6.8 6.8 7.0 7.2 7.1 7.2 7.4 7.2 7.0 6.6 6.3 6.1 6.0
Defence 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2
Public order & safety 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.7
Economic affairs 4.6 4.6 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.3 4.6 5.0 5.5 4.8 4.9 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.3 4.3 4.4
Environmental protection 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
Housing & community 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6
amenities
Health 6.2 6.4 6.5 6.5 6.6 6.6 6.5 6.7 7.3 7.2 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.0 7.0 7.0
Recreation, culture & religion 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1
Education 4.8 4.9 5.0 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.7 4.7 5.1 5.0 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.8 4.7 4.6 4.6
Social protection 18.0 18.1 18.6 18.4 18.3 18.0 17.6 17.9 19.8 19.7 19.4 19.8 20.0 19.9 19.7 19.7 19.4 19.2
Sickness & disability 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.7
Old age 9.1 9.1 9.4 9.4 9.4 9.3 9.2 9.5 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.5 10.7 10.7 10.6 10.5 10.4 10.4
Survivors 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.5
Family & children 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.7
Unemployment 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.9 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3
Others 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.5
* EU27 represents the European Union of 27 Member States after 1 February 2020 Figures may not add up due to rounding.
Source dataset (including data for individual Member States): gov_10a_exp

General government expenditure by function in the EU27*, 2001 - 2018

(as % of total government expenditure)
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
General public services 16.6 16.0 15.4 15.2 15.1 14.8 15.0 15.0 14.3 14.0 14.7 14.8 14.6 14.3 13.7 13.3 13.0 12.9
Defence 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.6 2.6 2.6
Public order & safety 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.6
Economic affairs 9.7 9.6 9.5 9.6 9.6 9.7 9.5 9.8 10.0 10.8 9.7 9.8 9.3 9.3 9.5 9.0 9.3 9.4
Environmental protection 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.7
Housing & community 1.8 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2
amenities
Health 13.2 13.4 13.6 13.7 14.0 14.2 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.2 14.4 14.2 14.4 14.6 14.7 14.8 14.9 15.0
Recreation, culture & religion 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.4 2.5
Education 10.3 10.4 10.4 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.2 10.0 10.0 10.0 9.8 9.9 9.9 9.9 10.0 9.9 9.9
Social protection 38.1 38.2 38.8 38.9 38.9 38.8 38.7 38.4 39.2 39.1 39.5 39.8 40.4 40.7 40.9 41.7 41.5 41.2
Sickness & disability 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.9
Old age 19.3 19.2 19.6 19.8 19.9 20.1 20.3 20.3 20.3 20.4 21.0 21.2 21.6 21.8 22.0 22.3 22.3 22.3
Survivors 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.3 3.3
Family & children 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.7
Unemployment 3.5 3.6 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.7 3.3 3.1 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 2.9
Others 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.8 3.0 3.3 3.2 3.1
* EU27 represents the European Union of 27 Member States after 1 February 2020 Figures may not add up due to rounding.
Source dataset (including data for individual Member States): gov_10a_exp