Public social spending as share of GDP in Germany
Germany: Public social spending as share of GDP was 27.9% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Public social spending as share of GDP in Germany, 1880–2024
Source: OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
The most recent figure for public social spending as share of gdp in Germany is 27.9%, measured in 2024.
That represents a change of up 2.1% on the previous year and up 9.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public social spending as share of gdp in Germany peaked at 29.5% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 0.5%, in 1880.
Germany ranks 5th of 42 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 69 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1 |
| 1890s | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1 |
| 1900s | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 1 |
| 1930s | 4.8% | 4.8% | 4.8% | 1 |
| 1960s | 16.2% | 15.3% | 17.7% | 10 |
| 1970s | 20.2% | 16.6% | 23.1% | 10 |
| 1980s | 22.2% | 21.6% | 22.7% | 10 |
| 1990s | 24.7% | 21.4% | 26.2% | 10 |
| 2000s | 25.6% | 24.0% | 27.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 25.8% | 25.3% | 26.7% | 10 |
| 2020s | 28.2% | 27.3% | 29.5% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Germany
More reference data data for Germany
- Spring temperature anomalies 1.53 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 3.04 °C (2026)
- Temperature anomalies by month -1.82 °C (2026)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 0.6168 °C (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies 1.25 °C (2025)
- Consumer price index 137.8 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Competitive elections 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is public social spending as share of gdp in Germany?
- Public social spending as share of gdp in Germany was 27.9% in 2024, according to OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest public social spending as share of gdp recorded in Germany?
- The highest recorded value was 29.5% in 2020.
- What is the lowest public social spending as share of gdp recorded in Germany?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5% in 1880.
- How does Germany rank for public social spending as share of gdp?
- Germany ranks 5th out of 42 countries with data for 2024.
- Is public social spending as share of gdp rising or falling in Germany?
- Over the last ten years it is up 9.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Germany data come from?
- The figures come from OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Public social spending as share of GDP. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 69 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Public social expenditure divided bt gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.