Public social spending as share of GDP in Italy
Italy: Public social spending as share of GDP was 27.6% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Public social spending as share of GDP in Italy, 1880–2024
Source: OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Italy recorded 27.6% for public social spending as share of gdp in 2024.
The figure is up 0.2% on the previous year and down 1.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public social spending as share of gdp in Italy peaked at 32.5% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 0.0%, in 1880.
Italy ranks 6th of 42 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 71 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1 |
| 1890s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1 |
| 1900s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1 |
| 1910s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1 |
| 1920s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1 |
| 1930s | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 1 |
| 1960s | 12.3% | 10.4% | 13.8% | 10 |
| 1970s | 16.2% | 13.8% | 17.9% | 10 |
| 1980s | 19.5% | 17.3% | 20.2% | 10 |
| 1990s | 21.7% | 20.6% | 22.7% | 10 |
| 2000s | 23.9% | 22.6% | 26.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 27.5% | 26.4% | 28.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 29.1% | 27.5% | 32.5% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More reference data data for Italy
- Spring temperature anomalies 0.4267 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 2.76 °C (2026)
- Temperature anomalies by month 0.5909 °C (2026)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 0.896 °C (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies 1.7 °C (2025)
- Consumer price index 131.87 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 Italy?
- Public social spending as share of gdp in Italy was 27.6% 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 Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 32.5% in 2020.
- What is the lowest public social spending as share of gdp recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.0% in 1880.
- How does Italy rank for public social spending as share of gdp?
- Italy ranks 6th out of 42 countries with data for 2024.
- Is public social spending as share of gdp rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is down 1.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Italy 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
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About this data
Public social expenditure divided bt gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.