Japan vs Sweden: Public social spending as share of GDP

Japan

24.7%

in 2022

Sweden

26.1%

in 2024

Japan rank

10th

Sweden rank

8th

Public social spending as share of GDP over time

Sweden currently reports 26.1% against 24.7% in Japan, a difference of 1.3%.

That makes Sweden's figure about 1.1 times Japan's.

Across all 69 years both countries report, Sweden has been ahead every year.

Japan ranks 10th and Sweden ranks 8th of 42 countries.

Indicator: Public social spending as share of GDP
Unit: % of GDP
Source: OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 42 places, 1,937 data points, 1880–2024
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Public social expenditure divided bt gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.