Social spending makes up 20% of OECD GDP - Key findings

SOCIAL EXPENDITURE (SOCX) UPDATE 2020 © OECD 2020 3 Pensions and Health are the main areas of public social spending Across the OECD on average, public spending on old-age and survivor pension payments (7.8% of GDP) and health (5.6% of GDP are the largest areas of social spending. [...] It should be borne in mind that the quality of data on the effect of tax systems (frequently estimates based on tax models), and private and social spending and spending by local government (because of under-reporting), is not as high as the quality of information on budgetary allocations towards social purposes. [...] The figures in brackets refers to the ranking of countries in term of gross public and net total social expenditure from number 1 being the highest spender to the lowest; i.e. [...] Private social spending (including health and pensions) is much larger in the United States than in most other countries, and its inclusion moves the United States from 21st in the ranking of the gross public social spending to 2nd place in the international comparison of net total social spending. [...] The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.