World: Expense (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2022, World's expense (% of GDP) fell 3.25 percentage points on 2021 (from 31.74% to 28.49%).

Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2021), the average change was +0.24 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.51 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 6.72 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.25 percentage points in 2022. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2013 to 2022 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.49 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 35% of the movement over 10 observed years.

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

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 30 values

Expense (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 39.22% (2017)
• Bahrain — 26.11% (2020)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 30.23% (2015)
• Israel — 37.35% (2023)
• Jordan — 25.89% (2023)
• Lebanon — 6.3% (2021)
• Malta — 33.67% (2023)
• Morocco — 26.61% (2023)
• Saudi Arabia — 24.22% (2023)
• United Arab Emirates — 3.77% (2023)
• West Bank and Gaza — 26.17% (2021)

More public sector data for World

• Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 33.33 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of GDP) — 2.48% (2025)
• Arms exports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 33.54 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (current USD) — 2.86 trillion (2025)
• Intentional homicides, female (per 100,000 female) — 2.1 (2023)
• Intentional homicides, male (per 100,000 male) — 8.3 (2023)
• Armed forces personnel, total — 27.41 million (2020)
• Armed forces personnel (% of total labor force) — 0.79% (2020)
• Revenue, excluding grants (% of GDP) — 24% (2024)
• Tax revenue (% of GDP)

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 World's expense (% of GDP)?

28.49% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is up 4.74 percentage points from 23.75% in 1990. The highest value was 33.42% in 2020 and the lowest 23.64% in 2000.

Is the latest change in expense (% of GDP) unusual for World?

In 2022, World's expense (% of GDP) fell 3.25 percentage points on 2021 (from 31.74% to 28.49%). Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2021), the average change was +0.24 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.51 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

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.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.