NAAG Chapter 6: Government — Compensation of employees by general government by country
The National Accounts at a Glance (NAAG) is based on the original publication and has nine chapters: The first chapter focuses on indicators of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The second is about income and related indicators and presents measures of net national income, savings and net lending/net borrowing. The...
What the numbers show
NAAG Chapter 6: Government — Compensation of employees by general government is currently reported for 39 countries. The highest value is 14.32 Percentage of GDP in Iceland; the lowest is 4.25 Percentage of GDP in Indonesia.
The median across all reporting countries is 10.76 Percentage of GDP, and the mean is 10.52 Percentage of GDP.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 3.
Over the past decade 20 countries rose and 19 fell. The largest increase was in Latvia (up 25.4%), and the largest decrease in Indonesia (down 22.4%).
NAAG Chapter 6: Government — Compensation of employees by general: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iceland | 14.32 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 7.1% | flat |
| 1 | Latvia | 13.1 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 25.4% | rising |
| 2 | Denmark | 14.18 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 11.6% | falling |
| 2 | Slovenia | 12.46 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 11.7% | rising |
| 3 | Finland | 13.53 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 2.5% | flat |
| 3 | Estonia | 12.3 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 16.0% | rising |
| 4 | Norway | 13.37 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 4.8% | flat |
| 4 | Lithuania | 12.1 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 24.6% | falling |
| 5 | South Africa | 13.12 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 0.4% | rising |
| 5 | Poland | 12.01 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 16.2% | falling |
| 6 | Canada | 12.65 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 0.8% | falling |
| 7 | Belgium | 12.5 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 0.8% | rising |
| 8 | France | 12.37 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 4.5% | falling |
| 8 | Netherlands | 8.88 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 3.1% | falling |
| 9 | Sweden | 12.31 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 1.1% | flat |
| 10 | Brazil | 11.95 Percentage of GDP | 2021 | down 3.4% | rising |
| 11 | Luxembourg | 11.68 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 23.6% | flat |
| 12 | Austria | 11.43 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 6.1% | falling |
| 13 | Israel | 11.38 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | up 10.5% | falling |
| 14 | Costa Rica | 11.16 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | down 20.2% | rising |
| 15 | Spain | 10.76 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 1.9% | rising |
| 16 | Hungary | 10.69 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 3.0% | falling |
| 17 | Portugal | 10.63 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 6.2% | falling |
| 18 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 10.41 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 15.6% | flat |
| 19 | Greece | 10.16 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 17.2% | rising |
| 20 | Russian Federation | 9.85 Percentage of GDP | 2019 | up 5.9% | flat |
| 21 | New Zealand | 9.75 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | up 5.8% | falling |
| 22 | Czechia | 9.73 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 13.7% | rising |
| 23 | Chile | 9.47 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | up 11.4% | rising |
| 24 | Italy | 9.03 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 8.8% | falling |
| 25 | Germany | 8.6 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | up 9.8% | falling |
| 26 | United States of America | 8.43 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | down 13.0% | falling |
| 27 | Mexico | 8.09 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | down 7.1% | flat |
| 28 | China | 8.08 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | up 2.7% | rising |
| 29 | Switzerland | 7.27 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | down 0.1% | flat |
| 30 | Colombia | 7.19 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | up 8.6% | rising |
| 31 | Ireland | 6.04 Percentage of GDP | 2025 | down 15.6% | falling |
| 32 | Japan | 4.91 Percentage of GDP | 2024 | down 10.8% | falling |
| 33 | Indonesia | 4.25 Percentage of GDP | 2023 | down 22.4% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovak Republic 11.73 Percentage of GDP
- Korea 6.6 Percentage of GDP
- European Union 10.35 Percentage of GDP
- Euro area 10.07 Percentage of GDP
About this data
The National Accounts at a Glance (NAAG) is based on the original publication and has nine chapters: The first chapter focuses on indicators of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The second is about income and related indicators and presents measures of net national income, savings and net lending/net borrowing. The third chapter looks at the expenditure approach to GDP, with information on the key components of demand and imports. The fourth chapter presents indicators from a production perspective. The fifth chapter looks at household sector indicators such as household disposable income, saving and net worth. The sixth chapter focuses on general government, presenting indicators such as general government revenue, expenditure and gross debt. The seventh chapter looks at financial and non-financial corporations. The eighth chapter presents indicators of capital stock and depreciation. Finally, chapter 9 provides reference indicators, important in their own right but also because they are used in the construction of many of the indicators presented elsewhere in NAAG.