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Government expenditure as share of GDP by country

Government spending as a share of GDP varies a lot across countries, and the IMF's latest data lays it out in a 50-country ranking. Kiribati sits at the top with government expenditure hitting 98.08% of its GDP, while India brings up the rear at 28.38%. That figure basically measures what a government spends in a year relative to the size of its economy, covering everything from healthcare and education to pensions, defense, infrastructure, and public services. The top ten includes Marshall Islands, Ukraine, Dominica, Finland, France, Micronesia, Austria, Belgium, and Lesotho, with Kiribati leading the pack by a wide margin. After that, a bunch of European countries cluster in the mid-40s to low-50s range, like Italy, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The data comes from the International Monetary Fund 2024, as visualized by Visual Capitalist.

2mo

Writersroom Boardwalk@writersroom.boardwalk

Follow

Government expenditure as share of GDP by country

Government spending as a share of GDP varies a lot across countries, and the IMF's latest data lays it out in a 50-country ranking. Kiribati sits at the top with government expenditure hitting 98.08% of its GDP, while India brings up the rear at 28.38%. That figure basically measures what a government spends in a year relative to the size of its economy, covering everything from healthcare and education to pensions, defense, infrastructure, and public services. The top ten includes Marshall Islands, Ukraine, Dominica, Finland, France, Micronesia, Austria, Belgium, and Lesotho, with Kiribati leading the pack by a wide margin. After that, a bunch of European countries cluster in the mid-40s to low-50s range, like Italy, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The data comes from the International Monetary Fund 2024, as visualized by Visual Capitalist.

2mo