Society at a Glance 2016
OECD Social Indicators
This is the eighth edition of Society at a Glance, the biennial OECD overview of social indicators. This report addresses the growing demand for quantitative evidence on social well-being and its trends. It updates some indicators included in the previous editions published since 2001 and introduces several new ones, with 25 indicators in total. It includes data for the 35 OECD member countries and where available data for key partners (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa); other G20 countries (Argentina and Saudi Arabia) are also included. The report features a special chapter on the NEET challenge and what can be done for jobless and disengaged youth. It also provides a guide to help readers in understanding the structure of OECD social indicators. All indicators are available as a web book and an e-book on OECD iLibrary.
Social spending
In 2016, public social spending average an estimated 21% of GDP across the 35 OECD countries (). Public social spending-to-GDP ratios are highest in France, at 32% of GDP, followed by Finland, at over 30% of GDP. Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, and Greece devote more than a quarter of their GDP to public social spending. At the other end of the spectrum are non-European countries such as Latvia, Turkey, Korea, Chile and Mexico which spend less than 15% of GDP on social support. Social spending in the emerging economies in the early 2010s was lower than the OECD average, ranging from around 2% of GDP in India to about 17% in Brazil.
Also available in: French