Mozambique: Expense (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2.86 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.89 percentage points in 2017. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2022, Mozambique had the 17th highest value of the 25 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Mozambique in the 2022 ranking

• Ecuador — 13th of 25: 30.44%
• Solomon Islands — 14th of 25: 28.89%
• Australia — 15th of 25: 27.58%
• Azerbaijan — 17th of 25: 23.01%
• Ghana — 18th of 25: 22.68%
• Malawi — 19th of 25: 20.17%

What this measures

Expense is a decrease in net worth resulting from a transaction. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.

Limitations: For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance. Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 10 values

Expense (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Angola — 14.57% (2019)
• Botswana — 26.53% (2024)
• Burkina Faso — 19.58% (2023)
• Burundi — 12.26% (2021)
• Cabo Verde — 30.88% (2020)
• Cameroon — 12.42% (2021)
• Central African Republic — 11.66% (2021)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 12.45% (2022)
• Congo, Rep. — 16.13% (2021)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 17.88% (2023)
• Equatorial Guinea — 11.05% (2022)
• Eswatini

More public sector data for Mozambique

• Military expenditure (current USD) — 468.06 million (2025)
• Military expenditure (current LCU) — 29.88 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of GDP) — 1.87% (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of general government expenditure) — 6% (2025)
• Armed forces personnel, total — 11,000 (2020)
• Armed forces personnel (% of total labor force) — 0.08% (2020)
• Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 14 million (2025)
• CPIA business regulatory environment rating (1=low to 6=high) — 3 (2025)
• CPIA debt policy rating (1=low to 6=high) — 2 (2025)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Mozambique's expense (% of GDP)?

26% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2010?

It is up 6.38 percentage points from 19.62% in 2010. The highest value was 26% in 2022 and the lowest 17.63% in 2017.

How does Mozambique rank?

17th highest of 25 economies with data for 2022.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB); National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB); National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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