Social security in Sweden 1993–2021
Expenditure on social protection decreased in relation to GDP
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2023-03-31 8.00
Social protection expenditures as a share of GDP decreased from 29.4 percent in 2020 to 28.0 percent in 2021. Social protection expenditures in current prices increased, but less compared to the increase of GDP.
In 2021, total expenditures on social protection increased by SEK 47.4 billion, which corresponds to 3.2 percent. The corresponding increase between 2019 and 2020 was 5.5 percent. Total expenditures for social protection amounted to SEK 1 527 billion in 2021.
Expenditures on social protection as a share of GDP has varied from year to year. The share fell from 35.6 percent in 1993 to 28.0 percent in 2021. Between 1993 and 2000, the share decreased steadily, and amounted to 28.0 percent in 2000. In the 2000s, the share varied between 27.2 percent (in 2007) and 30.1 percent (in 2003).
Expenditure on the elderly was the largest expenditure item
The largest expenditure item was the elderly, which amounted to 44 percent of social benefits in 2021. The second largest expenditure item was health and medical care, which accounted for 29 percent of total social benefits. This was followed by expenditure on family/children and disability, which accounted for 10 percent and 9 percent of total social benefits respectively.
Function | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Sickness/Health care | 330 674 | 341 184 | 360 613 | 378 513 | 416 588 | 440 605 |
2. Disability | 127 193 | 129 644 | 133 179 | 132 915 | 132 000 | 133 381 |
3. Old Age | 546 730 | 569 490 | 587 960 | 607 915 | 636 941 | 658 949 |
4. Survivors | 13 685 | 13 375 | 12 767 | 12 412 | 12 050 | 11 458 |
5. Family/Children | 130 987 | 135 601 | 145 343 | 149 835 | 149 947 | 151 424 |
6. Unemployment | 45 152 | 45 402 | 42 272 | 39 776 | 52 921 | 55 366 |
7. Housing | 18 307 | 18 269 | 19 168 | 19 043 | 20 858 | 20 682 |
8. Social exclusion nec. | 59 937 | 48 884 | 39 450 | 34 559 | 31 122 | 28 895 |
Expenditures for social protection benefits | 1 272 665 | 1 301 849 | 1 340 752 | 1 374 968 | 1 452 427 | 1 500 760 |
As a % of GDP | 28.8 | 28.1 | 27.8 | 27.2 | 28.8 | 27.5 |
Administration costs/Other expenditures | 25 218 | 26 577 | 26 715 | 27 124 | 27 476 | 26 571 |
Social protection expenditure | 1 297 883 | 1 328 426 | 1 367 467 | 1 402 092 | 1 479 903 | 1 527 331 |
As a % of GDP | 29.4 | 28.7 | 28.3 | 27.8 | 29.4 | 28.0 |
International comparisons
In the early 1990s, Sweden had the highest level of social protection expenditure in relation to GDP compared with other countries in the EU. In recent years, Sweden’s expenditures have been just below the EU average. This was also the case in 2021 when Sweden had a share of GDP at 29.3 percent, in comparison to EU-27, which had a share of GDP at 31.7 percent.
In 2021, France had the highest level of expenditure on social protection as a share of GDP, at 38.1 percent. Italy had the second highest levels of expenditure on social protection, at 34.3 percent of GDP, followed by Austria and Germany at 34 percent and 33 percent of GDP respectively. In the Nordic countries, Denmark had the highest level of expenditure on social protection as a share of GDP, at 32.9 percent. Finland, Norway and Iceland followed with shares at 31.9 percent, 30.8 percent and 30.4 percent of GDP respectively. Ireland was the EU country with the smallest share, 15.5 percent.
Main tables - Social protection - Eurostat (europa.eu)
The different taxation regulations pose a major problem for international comparisons. Some countries regulate taxes on certain benefits, while others do not. In addition, some benefits in certain countries consist of tax deductions, while other countries pay the benefit directly. Slightly more than half of the social protection benefits in Sweden are cash benefits. Most of these cash benefits are taxable. If taxation is taken into account, the percentage of GDP from benefits in 2021, excluding administration costs, fell from 27.5 percent including tax to 24.5 percent excluding tax.
Definitions and explanations
Social protection is defined here as all services from public or private organisations with the purpose of reducing the burden on households and individuals from specially defined risks or meeting specially defined needs. A prerequisite is that these services do not require a return of services and that they are not based on individual arrangements. The benefits may be either in cash or in kind.
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.