Government Spending in Europe by Country (2024)

Total general government expenditure ranges from 57.8% of GDP in Finland to 22.3% in Ireland, with a panel average of 45.6% — +0.5pp on 2023. Excluding the Irish outlier, the practical European range runs from roughly 34% to 58% of GDP.

Most of the gap between a 55% country and a 40% country is not the level of provision. It is whether pensions and health insurance run through the state's books or through mandatory private schemes that sit outside them.

Finland, France, Austria and Belgium occupy the top of the table, all above 54% of GDP. Switzerland at 33.6% and Malta at 37.2% are the lowest genuinely comparable figures; Switzerland's position reflects a health system financed through compulsory private insurance premiums that never enter the government accounts. The central and eastern European members cluster in the low forties, having grown their public sectors substantially since accession without reaching Nordic levels.

Every row is the figure published for 2024; no value is carried over from an adjacent year to fill a gap. The chart covers the same 30 countries in every year from 2000, so the line moves because the countries moved, not because the sample changed. Figures follow the ESA 2010 national accounts framework and are consolidated across all levels of government.

Country pages: Finland · France · Austria · Belgium · Sweden · Italy · Germany · Poland · Croatia · Greece · Norway · Denmark · Slovakia · Hungary · Iceland · Luxembourg · Slovenia · Spain · Latvia · Netherlands · Estonia · Romania · Czechia · Portugal · Lithuania · Bulgaria · Cyprus · Malta · Switzerland · Ireland