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Government procurement spending as share of GDP

Government procurement spending is the purchase of goods, services and works by the government. It includes intermediate consumption (e.g. accountingservices), gross fixed capital formation (e.g. new roads) and social transfers in kind via market producers (purchases of goods and services supplied tohouseholds).

Data

Government procurement spending as share of GDP

OECD
See all data and research on:
Government Spending

What you should know about this indicator

  • General government procurement spending is the purchase of goods, services and works by the government. It is defined as the sum of the goods and services purchased by the government for its own use, gross fixed capital formation (infrastructure for transport, office buildings, housing, schools and hospitals), and social transfers in kind via market producers. Public corporations are excluded.
  • General government consists of central, state and local governments and social security funds.

The size of general government procurement spending is estimated using data from the OECD National Accounts Statistics (database), based on the System of National Accounts (SNA). General government procurement is defined as the sum of intermediate consumption (goods and services purchased by governments for their own use, such as accounting or information technology services), gross fixed capital formation (acquisition of capital excluding sales of fixed assets, such as building new roads) and social transfers in kind via market producers (purchases by general government of goods and services produced by market producers and supplied to households). Public corporations were excluded in the estimation of procurement spending.

Government procurement spending as share of GDP
OECD
This data is divided by gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.
Source
OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
March 26, 2025
Next expected update
March 2026
Date range
2007–2023
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

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

This dataset represents a selection of indicators as presented in the 2023 edition of the Government at a Glance publication related to the public finance under the System of National Accounts (SNA). Government at a Glance provides a dashboard of indicators assembled to help decision makers and the public analyse and benchmark governments across OECD members and partner countries. This eighth edition provides internationally comparative data on a range of public governance, tools and practices to help identify both strengths and weaknesses in democratic governance. The Structure and indicators section of the Government at a Glance publication, describes its framework and the structure by chapters, as well as the changes compared to the previous 2021 edition. The 2023 edition presents a new structure around these three broad categories:

  1. Trust and satisfaction with public services (trust in public institutions, satisfaction with public services);
  2. Achieving results with good governance practices (governance of the policy cycle, regulatory governance, budgeting practices, managing public procurement, infrastructure planning and delivery, digital government and open government data);
  3. What resources public institutions use and how are they managed (public finance, public employment, managing human resources).

Further information on Government at a Glance 2023 edition via a dedicated web platform, which includes a Government at a Glance Data dashboard (for a selection of indicators in an interactive format) as well as Country fact sheets (key data by country), can be found at: Government at a Glance website.

Retrieved on
March 26, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data-explorer.oecd.org/
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 (2025). Public finance main indicators - Government at a glance, Yearly updates. OECD Data Explorer, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/.

This dataset represents a selection of indicators as presented in the 2023 edition of the Government at a Glance publication related to the public procurement spending as estimated under the System of National Accounts (SNA). Government at a Glance provides a dashboard of indicators assembled to help decision makers and the public analyse and benchmark governments across OECD members and partner countries. This eighth edition provides internationally comparative data on a range of public governance, tools and practices to help identify both strengths and weaknesses in democratic governance. The Structure and indicators section of the Government at a Glance publication, describes its framework and the structure by chapters, as well as the changes compared to the previous 2021 edition. The 2023 edition presents a new structure around these three broad categories:

  1. Trust and satisfaction with public services (trust in public institutions, satisfaction with public services);
  2. Achieving results with good governance practices (governance of the policy cycle, regulatory governance, budgeting practices, managing public procurement, infrastructure planning and delivery, digital government and open government data);
  3. What resources public institutions use and how are they managed (public finance, public employment, managing human resources).

Further information on Government at a Glance 2023 edition via a dedicated web platform, which includes a Government at a Glance Data dashboard (for a selection of indicators in an interactive format) as well as Country fact sheets (key data by country), can be found at: Government at a Glance website.

Retrieved on
March 27, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data-explorer.oecd.org/
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 (2025). Size of public procurement - Government at a glance indicators, Yearly updates. OECD Data Explorer, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/.

This dataset represents a selection of indicators as presented in the 2023 edition of the Government at a Glance publication related to government revenue and expenditure disaggregation by economic transactions under the System of National Accounts (SNA). Government at a Glance provides a dashboard of indicators assembled to help decision makers and the public analyse and benchmark governments across OECD members and partner countries. This eighth edition provides internationally comparative data on a range of public governance, tools and practices to help identify both strengths and weaknesses in democratic governance. The Structure and indicators section of the Government at a Glance publication, describes its framework and the structure by chapters, as well as the changes compared to the previous 2021 edition. The 2023 edition presents a new structure around these three broad categories:

  1. Trust and satisfaction with public services (trust in public institutions, satisfaction with public services);
  2. Achieving results with good governance practices (governance of the policy cycle, regulatory governance, budgeting practices, managing public procurement, infrastructure planning and delivery, digital government and open government data);
  3. What resources public institutions use and how are they managed (public finance, public employment, managing human resources).

Further information on Government at a Glance 2023 edition via a dedicated web platform, which includes a Government at a Glance Data dashboard (for a selection of indicators in an interactive format) as well as Country fact sheets (key data by country), can be found at: Government at a Glance website.

Retrieved on
March 27, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data-explorer.oecd.org/
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 (2025). Size of public procurement - Public finance by economic transaction - Government at a glance indicators, Yearly updates. OECD Data Explorer, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/.

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.

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  • 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.
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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: Government procurement spending as share of GDP”, part of the following publication: Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2016) - “Government Spending”. Data adapted from OECD. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/government-procurement-share-gdp [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 (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Government procurement spending as share of GDP – OECD” [dataset]. OECD, “Public finance main indicators - Government at a glance, Yearly updates”; OECD, “Size of public procurement - Government at a glance indicators, Yearly updates”; OECD, “Public finance by economic transaction - Government at a glance indicators, Yearly updates” [original data]. Retrieved April 2, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/government-procurement-share-gdp

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