Government spending as a share of GDP

Central government expense against the size of the economy.

measured by: World Bank
originally from: International Monetary Fund, Government Finance Statistics
years covered: 1972–2024
subject: Economic

Higher means less freedom.

How this is measured

Cash payments for the operating activities of central government — wages, goods and services, interest, subsidies and transfers — over GDP. Excludes capital spending, and like the tax take covers central government only. The direction is the same contested reading as the tax take, and the same caveat applies.

Ranked for 2023

79 countries and territories have a figure for 2023. This is the most recent year the series covers well; the viewer holds every year from 1972.

#	Country	Region	Gov spending
1	United Arab Emirates	Middle East & North Africa	3.8%
2	Ethiopia	Sub-Saharan Africa	6.1%
3	Somalia	Sub-Saharan Africa	6.3%
4	Tajikistan	Eurasia	11.0%
5	Madagascar	Sub-Saharan Africa	11.0%
6	Cambodia	Asia-Pacific	13.0%
7	Guatemala	Americas	13.5%
8	Guinea-Bissau	Sub-Saharan Africa	15.5%
9	Togo	Sub-Saharan Africa	16.0%
10	Switzerland	Europe	16.1%
11	Nicaragua	Americas	16.3%
12	Uganda	Sub-Saharan Africa	16.6%
13	Philippines	Asia-Pacific	16.9%
14	Malaysia	Asia-Pacific	17.0%
15	Tanzania	Sub-Saharan Africa	17.0%
16	Kazakhstan	Eurasia	17.4%
17	Côte d'Ivoire	Sub-Saharan Africa	17.9%
18	Rwanda	Sub-Saharan Africa	18.0%
19	Sri Lanka	Asia-Pacific	18.0%
20	Dominican Republic	Americas	18.1%
21	Paraguay	Americas	18.9%
22	Canada	Americas	19.1%
23	Burkina Faso	Sub-Saharan Africa	19.6%
24	Papua New Guinea	Asia-Pacific	20.3%
25	Bahamas	Americas	20.3%
26	Thailand	Asia-Pacific	20.7%
27	Armenia	Eurasia	20.9%
28	Argentina	Americas	21.0%
29	Uzbekistan	Eurasia	22.3%
30	Mexico	Americas	22.5%
31	Senegal	Sub-Saharan Africa	23.6%
32	Kyrgyzstan	Eurasia	23.7%
33	Botswana	Sub-Saharan Africa	23.9%
34	Saudi Arabia	Middle East & North Africa	24.2%
35	United States	Americas	24.4%
36	Chile	Americas	24.6%
37	Georgia	Eurasia	25.2%
38	Albania	Europe	25.4%
39	Jordan	Middle East & North Africa	25.9%
40	Morocco	Middle East & North Africa	26.6%
41	Vanuatu	Asia-Pacific	26.6%
42	Fiji	Asia-Pacific	27.8%
43	Kenya	Sub-Saharan Africa	27.8%
44	El Salvador	Americas	27.9%
45	South Korea	Asia-Pacific	28.3%
46	Belarus	Eurasia	28.5%
47	Costa Rica	Americas	28.6%
48	Russia	Eurasia	30.0%
49	Iceland	Europe	32.1%
50	Brazil	Americas	32.4%
51	Turkey	Eurasia	33.0%
52	Colombia	Americas	33.3%
53	Denmark	Europe	33.3%
54	North Macedonia	Europe	33.4%
55	Lithuania	Europe	33.9%
56	Spain	Europe	34.0%
57	Latvia	Europe	34.2%
58	Moldova	Eurasia	34.5%
59	Norway	Europe	34.5%
60	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	35.3%
61	Bulgaria	Europe	35.8%
62	Namibia	Sub-Saharan Africa	36.2%
63	Uruguay	Americas	36.5%
64	Portugal	Europe	37.2%
65	Israel	Middle East & North Africa	37.3%
66	Estonia	Europe	37.7%
67	Croatia	Europe	38.1%
68	Cyprus	Europe	38.5%
69	Poland	Europe	39.1%
70	Netherlands	Europe	40.0%
71	United Kingdom	Europe	41.2%
72	Luxembourg	Europe	42.2%
73	Slovenia	Europe	42.9%
74	Finland	Europe	44.9%
75	Austria	Europe	46.0%
76	France	Europe	47.3%
77	Italy	Europe	47.3%
78	Greece	Europe	47.3%
79	Ukraine	Eurasia	65.6%

Data by year

Show 53 yearly JSON rankings

Follow a year link to open the complete world ranking, including country names, values, positions, source and licence.

Source and licence

World Bank — World Development Indicators

CC BY 4.0. World Bank, World Development Indicators How every source was checked

Other economic statistics

Trade openness Tax revenue as a share of GDP Foreign investment inflows Regulatory quality GDP per capita GDP growth Inflation Unemployment Income inequality Extreme poverty Government debt