Public social spending as share of GDP in Romania
Romania: Public social spending as share of GDP was 17.6% in 2021. ▲ Rising
Public social spending as share of GDP in Romania, 2003–2021
Source: OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Romania recorded 17.6% for public social spending as share of gdp in 2021.
That represents a change of down 0.3% on the previous year and up 14.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, public social spending as share of gdp in Romania peaked at 17.6% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 9.6%, in 2004.
Romania ranks 29th of 42 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 19 years of available data.
Public social spending as share of GDP in Romania, year by year
| Year | % of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 9.6% | — |
| 2004 | 9.6% | -0.7% |
| 2005 | 14.4% | +50.6% |
| 2006 | 13.7% | -5.2% |
| 2007 | 13.8% | +1.3% |
| 2008 | 14.5% | +5.2% |
| 2009 | 16.6% | +14.3% |
| 2010 | 17.4% | +4.6% |
| 2011 | 15.4% | -11.4% |
| 2012 | 14.7% | -4.6% |
| 2013 | 15.4% | +4.8% |
| 2014 | 15.1% | -2.2% |
| 2015 | 14.9% | -1.4% |
| 2016 | 15.2% | +2.1% |
| 2017 | 15.2% | +0.5% |
| 2018 | 15.3% | +0.3% |
| 2019 | 15.6% | +2.0% |
| 2020 | 17.6% | +13.0% |
| 2021 | 17.6% | -0.3% |
Romania compared with similar countries
- Romania's 17.6% is below the median for high income countries, which is 22.3%, 79% of the median. (38 countries reporting)
- Romania's 17.6% is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 23.0%, 76% of the median. (30 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Public social spending as share of GDP in Romania changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | +50.6% | 9.6% | 14.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 13.2% | 9.6% | 16.6% | 7 |
| 2010s | 15.4% | 14.7% | 17.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.6% | 17.6% | 17.6% | 2 |
Countries ranked near Romania
More reference data data for Romania
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 1.5 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 1.03 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 4.59 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.689 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 4.59 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 5.04 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 3.02 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 3.93 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 21.54 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 3.75 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is public social spending as share of gdp in Romania?
- Public social spending as share of gdp in Romania was 17.6% in 2021, 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 Romania?
- The highest recorded value was 17.6% in 2020.
- What is the lowest public social spending as share of gdp recorded in Romania?
- The lowest recorded value was 9.6% in 2004.
- How does Romania rank for public social spending as share of gdp?
- Romania ranks 29th out of 42 countries with data for 2021.
- Is public social spending as share of gdp rising or falling in Romania?
- Over the last ten years it is up 14.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Romania 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 — 19 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.