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Data

Public social expenditure as a share of GDP

Historical data – Lindert, OECD
See all data and research on:
Government Spending

What you should know about this indicator

This indicator combines three different datasets: Lindert (2004), OECD (1985), and the OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX). We combine the two OECD datasets by using the implicit growth rate from the older series, so we can extend the series back to 1960. We also use the data from Lindert (2004) to extend the series to 1880.

Public social expenditure as a share of GDP
Historical data – Lindert, OECD
Public social expenditure divided bt gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.
Source
OECD (2023); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
March 7, 2025
Next expected update
March 2026
Date range
1880–2022
Unit
% of GDP

Related research and writing

A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Government Spending by Our World in Data

Government Spending

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser

Is globalization an engine of economic development?

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

Historical poverty reductions: more than a story about 'free-market capitalism'

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

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.

Retrieved on
February 25, 2025
Retrieved from
https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/social-expenditure-database-socx.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
OECD (2023). Social expenditure aggregates. OECD Data Explorer, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/.

After the OECD Conference on Social Policies in the 1980s, held in October 1980, and in light of the discussion of budgetary issues by the Economic Policy Committee, a Group of Experts on the Growth and Control of Social Expenditure met at the OECD in October 1983 under the auspices of the Manpower and Social Affairs Committee. The Chairman of the Group, Mr. R. Maldague of the Belgian Planning Commission, presented a report on the meeting to the 60th Session of the MSA Committee in December 1983. The Committee then recommended that the Secretariat prepare a report on social expenditure. After review by members of the Committee in July 1984, this report is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General.

Retrieved on
March 7, 2025
Retrieved from
https://archive.org/details/socialexpenditur0000unse
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
OECD (1985). Social Expenditure 1960-1990: Problems of Growth and Control. OECD Social Policy Studies.

Growing Public examines the question of whether social policies that redistribute income impose constraints on economic growth. Taxes and transfers have been debated for centuries, but only now can we get a clear view of the whole evolution of social spending. What kept prospering nations from using taxes for social programs until the end of the nineteenth century? Why did taxes and spending then grow so much, and what are the prospects for social spending in this century? Why did North America become a leader in public education in some ways and not others? Lindert finds answers in the economic history and logic of political voice, population aging, and income growth. Contrary to traditional beliefs, the net national costs of government social programs are virtually zero. This book not only shows that no Darwinian mechanism has punished the welfare states, but uses history to explain why this surprising result makes sense. Contrary to the intuition of many economists and the ideology of many politicians, social spending has contributed to, rather than inhibited, economic growth.

Retrieved on
March 7, 2025
Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/growing-public/EAF17EB3BDFB5A6568930DBEC2CD1218
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Lindert, P. H. (2004). Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century. Table 1.2. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511510717

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator

We extrapolated the data available from the OECD Social Expenditure Database (public, in-cash and in-kind spending, all programs) using the earliest available observation from this dataset and applying the growth rates implied by the OECD (1985) data to obtain a series starting in 1960. These steps are necessary because the data in common years is not exactly the same for the two datasets due to changes in definitions and measurement. Nevertheless, we assume that trends stay the same in both cases.

We don't transform the data from Lindert (2004), the values are the same as in the original source.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Public social expenditure as a share of GDP”, part of the following publication: Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2016) - “Government Spending”. Data adapted from OECD, Lindert. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/social-spending-oecd-longrun [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

OECD (2023); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

OECD (2023); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Public social expenditure as a share of GDP – Lindert, OECD – Historical data” [dataset]. OECD, “OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX)”; OECD, “Social Expenditure 1960-1990: Problems of Growth and Control”; Lindert, “Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century” [original data]. Retrieved March 10, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/social-spending-oecd-longrun