Japan vs Norway: Public social spending as share of GDP
Japan
24.7%
in 2022
Norway
24.1%
in 2024
Japan rank
10th
Norway rank
13th
Public social spending as share of GDP over time
- Japan
- Norway
How they compare
Japan currently reports 24.7% against 24.1% in Norway, a difference of 0.6%.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 64 shared years of data; in 1880 it was Norway ahead.
Japan ranks 10th and Norway ranks 13th of 42 countries.
Across the 13 decades both report, Japan averaged higher in 1 and Norway in 12.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | Norway | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0.1% | 1.1% | 1.0% | Norway |
| 1890s | 0.1% | 0.9% | 0.8% | Norway |
| 1900s | 0.2% | 1.2% | 1.1% | Norway |
| 1910s | 0.2% | 1.2% | 1.0% | Norway |
| 1920s | 0.2% | 1.1% | 0.9% | Norway |
| 1930s | 0.2% | 2.4% | 2.2% | Norway |
| 1960s | 4.2% | 7.9% | 3.7% | Norway |
| 1970s | 7.0% | 14.9% | 7.9% | Norway |
| 1980s | 10.4% | 18.0% | 7.6% | Norway |
| 1990s | 12.4% | 22.4% | 10.1% | Norway |
| 2000s | 17.0% | 21.1% | 4.1% | Norway |
| 2010s | 21.9% | 23.4% | 1.5% | Norway |
| 2020s | 25.0% | 23.3% | 1.7% | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher public social spending as share of gdp, Japan or Norway?
- Japan, at 24.7% against 24.1% in Norway as of 2022.
- What is the difference in public social spending as share of gdp between Japan and Norway?
- 0.6%, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and Norway?
- 64 years are reported by both, from 1880 to 2022.
- How do Japan and Norway rank globally for public social spending as share of gdp?
- Japan ranks 10th and Norway ranks 13th of 42 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) β with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Public social spending as share of GDP. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Public social expenditure divided bt gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.