General government deficit is defined as the balance of income and expenditure of government, including capital income and capital expenditures. "Net lending" means that government has a surplus, and is providing financial resources to other sectors, while "net borrowing" means that government has a deficit, and requires financial resources from other sectors. This indicator is measured as a percentage of GDP. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).

Governments collect revenues mainly for two purposes: to finance the goods and services they provide to citizens and businesses, and to fulfil their redistributive role. Comparing levels of government revenues across countries provides an indication of the importance of the government sector in the economy in terms of available financial resources. The total amount of revenues collected by governments is determined by past and current political decisions. This indicator is measured in terms of thousand USD per capita, and as a percentage of GDP. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).

General government spending provides an indication of the size of government across countries. The large variation in this indicator highlights the variety of countries' approaches to delivering public goods and services and providing social protection, not necessarily differences in resources spent. This indicator is measured in terms of thousand USD per capita, and as percentage of GDP. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA).

General government final consumption can be broken down into two distinct groups. The first reflects expenditures for collective consumption (defence, justice, etc.) that benefit the society as a whole, or large parts of society, and are often known as public goods and services. The second, referred to as "individual", relates to expenditures for individual consumption (health care, housing, education, etc.), incurred by government for the benefit of individual households. The two measures are calculated as percentage of gross domestic product. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).

General government debt-to-GDP ratio measures the gross debt of the general government as a percentage of GDP. It is a key indicator for the sustainability of government finance. Debt is calculated as the sum of the following liability categories (as applicable): currency and deposits; debt securities, loans; insurance, pensions and standardised guarantee schemes, and other accounts payable. Changes in government debt over time primarily reflect the impact of past government deficits.

The net financial worth of the general government sector is the total value of its financial assets minus the total value of its outstanding liabilities. The general government sector consists of central, state and local governments as well as social security funds. Please refer to the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA) for a more detailed description of the government sector and the various financial instruments. This indicator is measured as a percentage of gross domestic product.

General government production costs are decisions about the amount and type of goods and services governments produce, as well as on how best to produce them. They are often political in nature and based on a country's social and cultural context. Governments use a mix of their own employees, capital, and outside contractors (non-profit institutions or private sector entities) to produce goods and services. Government production costs include: compensation costs of general government employees; goods and services used and financed by general government (including intermediate consumption and social transfer in kind via market producers paid for by government); and other costs, including depreciation of capital and other taxes on production less other subsidies on production. The data include government employment and intermediate consumption for output produced by the government for its own use, such as roads and other capital investment projects built by government employees. This indicator is measured as a percentage of GDP.

Reserve assets are assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for direct financing of payment imbalances. Reserve assets may be monetary gold, special drawing rights (SDRs), a reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), foreign exchange assets consisting of currency and deposits and securities, and other claims. This indicator is measured in SDRs. The IMF determines the value of SDRs daily by totalling the USD value (based on market exchange rates) of a weighted basket of currencies. The basket and weights are subject to periodic revision.

Central government expenditure is defined as the central government budget expenditure as reported in the final central government accounts. Data are based on the System of National accounts (SNA), a set of internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications and rules for national accounting. Central government spending by function is the breakdown of expenditures on the basis of the activities governments support. The classification system used to provide this breakdown on an internationally comparable basis is known as Classification of Functions of Government (COFOG). COFOG expenditures are divided into in the following ten functions: general public services; defence; public order and safety; economic affairs; environmental protection; housing and community amenities; health; recreation, culture and religion; education; and social protection. Data on central government expenditures by function include transfers between the different levels of government. The general government sector consists of central, state and local governments, and the social security funds controlled by these units. The political authority of central government extends over the entire territory of the country; central government has the authority to impose taxes on all resident and non-resident units engaged in economic activities within the country. The responsibility for the provision of public goods and services and redistribution of income is divided between different levels of government. Data on the distribution of government spending by both level and function can provide an indication of the extent to which key government activities are decentralised to sub-national governments. This indicator of central government spending by function is measured as a percentage of total expenditures.

Trust in government refers to the share of people who report having confidence in the national government. The data shown reflect the share of respondents answering “yes” (the other response categories being “no”, and “don’t know”) to the survey question: “In this country, do you have confidence in… national government? Due to small sample sizes, country averages for horizontal inequalities (by age, gender and education) are pooled between 2010-18 to improve the accuracy of the estimates. The sample is ex ante designed to be nationally representative of the population aged 15 and over. This indicator is measured as a percentage of all survey respondents.