France tops social spending: OECD
France's social spending is the highest in the developed world relative to the size of its economy, an OECD study found yesterday, as the government weighs how to respond to "yellow vest" protests.
Expenditure on healthcare, pensions and other social services stood at 32 percent of GDP last year, said the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based inter-governmental research institution.
Outlays have risen sharply since 1990, when they represented just under 25 percent of GDP, and are nearly triple the level of roughly 12 percent of GDP in 1960.
That trend is broadly in line with other developed countries, reflecting the development of more comprehensive welfare states and higher pension spending as more people live longer.
But France's outlays are well above the current average of 20.5 percent of GDP for the 36 OECD member countries, with pensions making up a large chunk of the cash benefits paid out every month.
In neighbouring Germany social spending is just 25 percent of GDP, while in the US it makes up just 19 percent.
And when taking all public spending into account, such as police and defence, France leads Europe with government outlays the equivalent of 56.5 percent of GDP in 2017, according to the most recent data available.
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