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
- Japan
- Sweden
How they compare
Sweden currently reports 26.1% against 24.7% in Japan, a difference of 1.4%.
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.
Sweden has averaged higher in every one of the 13 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | Sweden | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0.1% | 0.7% | 0.7% | Sweden |
| 1890s | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0.7% | Sweden |
| 1900s | 0.2% | 0.8% | 0.7% | Sweden |
| 1910s | 0.2% | 1.0% | 0.9% | Sweden |
| 1920s | 0.2% | 1.1% | 1.0% | Sweden |
| 1930s | 0.2% | 2.6% | 2.4% | Sweden |
| 1960s | 4.2% | 12.6% | 8.3% | Sweden |
| 1970s | 7.0% | 20.0% | 12.9% | Sweden |
| 1980s | 10.6% | 26.0% | 15.4% | Sweden |
| 1990s | 12.4% | 30.3% | 17.9% | Sweden |
| 2000s | 17.0% | 27.3% | 10.3% | Sweden |
| 2010s | 21.9% | 27.2% | 5.3% | Sweden |
| 2020s | 25.0% | 26.5% | 1.5% | Sweden |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher public social spending as share of gdp, Japan or Sweden?
- Sweden, at 26.1% against 24.7% in Japan as of 2024.
- What is the difference in public social spending as share of gdp between Japan and Sweden?
- 1.4%, with Sweden ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and Sweden?
- 69 years are reported by both, from 1880 to 2022.
- How do Japan and Sweden rank globally for public social spending as share of gdp?
- Japan ranks 10th and Sweden ranks 8th 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.