Annual government expenditure by function (COFOG) — Compensation of employees by country
This table provides a breakdown of government expenditure according to the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG), which shows how much governments spend in areas such as health, education, environmental protection, defence and servicing public debt. The presentation is on a country-by-country basis....
What the numbers show
Annual government expenditure by function (COFOG) — Compensation of employees is currently reported for 29 countries. The highest value is 108.06 million National currency in Colombia; the lowest is 10,452 National currency in Luxembourg.
The median across all reporting countries is 286,931 National currency, and the mean is 6.94 million National currency.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 10,338.
Annual government expenditure by function (COFOG) — Compensation of: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombia | 108.06 million National currency | 2024 | up 113.9% | rising |
| 2 | Japan | 31.70 million National currency | 2024 | up 8.2% | flat |
| 3 | Chile | 29.42 million National currency | 2024 | up 427.6% | volatile |
| 4 | Russia | 10.17 million National currency | 2019 | up 91.3% | rising |
| 5 | Hungary | 8.40 million National currency | 2024 | up 148.6% | volatile |
| 6 | Costa Rica | 5.21 million National currency | 2022 | up 56.8% | rising |
| 7 | United States | 2.47 million National currency | 2024 | up 44.7% | volatile |
| 8 | Sweden | 813,478 National currency | 2024 | up 61.5% | rising |
| 9 | Czechia | 775,674 National currency | 2024 | up 104.4% | rising |
| 10 | Norway | 702,202 National currency | 2024 | up 61.5% | rising |
| 11 | Iceland | 649,357 National currency | 2024 | up 131.4% | volatile |
| 12 | Denmark | 418,406 National currency | 2024 | up 30.1% | rising |
| 13 | France | 362,149 National currency | 2024 | up 28.0% | rising |
| 14 | Germany | 357,317 National currency | 2024 | up 51.5% | rising |
| 15 | United Kingdom | 286,931 National currency | 2024 | up 67.6% | rising |
| 16 | Australia | 279,756 National currency | 2024 | up 78.2% | rising |
| 17 | Israel | 228,397 National currency | 2024 | up 97.2% | rising |
| 18 | Italy | 197,169 National currency | 2024 | up 18.9% | rising |
| 19 | Romania | 197,134 National currency | 2024 | up 274.8% | volatile |
| 20 | Spain | 172,749 National currency | 2024 | up 50.2% | rising |
| 21 | Belgium | 77,342 National currency | 2024 | up 48.2% | rising |
| 22 | Switzerland | 62,050 National currency | 2024 | up 25.6% | rising |
| 23 | Austria | 55,840 National currency | 2024 | up 57.6% | rising |
| 24 | Finland | 36,962 National currency | 2024 | up 26.4% | rising |
| 25 | Ireland | 33,998 National currency | 2024 | up 77.7% | rising |
| 26 | Portugal | 30,322 National currency | 2024 | up 48.0% | rising |
| 27 | Greece | 24,529 National currency | 2024 | up 12.2% | rising |
| 28 | Bulgaria | 11,881 National currency | 2024 | up 191.8% | volatile |
| 29 | Luxembourg | 10,452 National currency | 2025 | up 105.2% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Korea 159.16 million National currency
- European Union (27 countries from 01/02/2020) 1.84 million National currency
- Euro area (20 countries) 1.51 million National currency
- Slovak Republic 14,847 National currency
- Poland 426,538 National currency
- Croatia 11,161 National currency
- Netherlands 97,515 National currency
- Lithuania 9,149 National currency
- Slovenia 7,644 National currency
- Latvia 5,333 National currency
- Estonia 4,872 National currency
About this data
This table provides a breakdown of government expenditure according to the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG), which shows how much governments spend in areas such as health, education, environmental protection, defence and servicing public debt. The presentation is on a country-by-country basis. Users are recommended to select one country (or area) at a time in the ‘Reference area’ filter. Data is presented for each country in national currency as well as in euros for the European Union and the euro area. Data are also available, for most countries, for the sub-sectors of general government. Specific categories of expenditure (such as health and education) can be selected using the ‘Expenditure’ filter, while details of the type of expenditure such as compensation of employees (payment of wages and salaries and employers’ social contributions) can be selected using the ‘Transaction’ filter. For government final consumption expenditure a breakdown is also provided, in the ‘Transaction’ filter, between individual and collective consumption expenditure. Data is for General Government. For most countries, results are also available for the General Government sub-sectors: central, local and state (regional) government and social security. These sub-sectors can be selected using the ‘Institutional sector’ filter. These indicators were presented in the previous dissemination system in the SNA_TABLE11 dataset. See ANA Changes for information on changes in methodology: ANA Changes Explore also the Government Finances and Public Sector Debt webpage: Government Finances and Public Sector Debt webpage OECD statistics contact: STAT.Contact@oecd.org