General government expenditure: analysis by detailed economic function

In 2011, general government expenditure amounted to 49.1% of EU-27 GDP. Based on the latest available expenditure data by economic function for 2010, more than half was devoted to social protection and health, which accounted for 19.9% and 7.5% respectively of GDP. The other important sectors of government spending concerned general public services (6.5% of GDP), education (5.5%) and economic affairs (4.7%). This publication analyses trends in the structure of general government expenditure breakdown by their socio-economic function (according to the Classification of the Functions of Government - COFOG).