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January 23

Data update

Explore updated data on social spending by governments

Pablo Arriagada

How much are different countries spending on social programs like housing, unemployment, benefits for the sick and elderly, and more?

I just updated our charts with the latest data from the OECD’s Social Expenditure Dataset. It covers all 38 OECD countries plus several candidate countries.

With this update, we now have a better picture of how social spending changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were large increases in many countries, as you can see in the chart.

In one of our charts, we combine this dataset with two others (OECD (1985) and Lindert (2004)) to extend the series all the way back to 1880, giving you a sense of how social spending has changed over the long run.

We also have charts showing spending broken down into nine different categories, such as housing, unemployment, family, health, and more.

Explore more interactive charts with updated data
A line chart showing public social spending as share of GDP for a selection of OECD countries from 2000 to 2024. Social spending includes, among others, the following areas: health, old age, incapacity-related benefits, family, active labor market, programmes, unemployment, and housing. The data source is the OECD (2025), OECD (1985), and Lindert (2004). The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.