Name: Social benefits: Which EU countries spend the most?
Uploaded: 2025-11-17T17:11:17.665Z
Duration: 1 min 30 s
Description: With pensions, social housing, unemployment benefits, medical care, and disability support, Europe has among the best social protections in the world. But which EU countries are the most generous when it comes to public spending?

With pensions, social housing, unemployment benefits, medical care, and disability support, Europe has among the best social protections in the world. But which EU countries are the most generous when it comes to public spending?

European Union countries dedicate about 27% of their GDP to welfare and social benefits, including pensions, social housing, unemployment benefits, medical care, and disability support. Finland, France, and Austria are the top spenders, each allocating around 32% of their GDP, while Ireland spends the least at 12%, according to Eurostat data.

Some countries with lower initial spending, such as Estonia, Croatia, and Romania, have recently increased their welfare budgets significantly. Pensions account for the largest portion of welfare spending in the EU, followed by health care and family or child support measures.

Social benefits: Which EU countries spend the most?

Which EU country spends the most on welfare and social benefits? EU countries pour roughly 27% of their GDP into welfare and social benefits. That means that more than a quarter of their output goes to things like pensions, social housing, unemployment benefits, medical care and disability support. Finland, France and Austria are the most generous EU members, each spending an estimated 32% of their GDP on social benefits. At the other end, Ireland sits last with only 12%, less than non-EU member states like Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, according to Eurostat. Next to the bottom are Malta and Hungary. The silver lining is that some of the countries at the bottom are catching up. Estonia boosted its welfare spending by almost 20% last year, Croatia by nearly 18% and Romania by 17.5%. At the same time, the slowest increases were seen in Greece, Sweden, Italy and Denmark. So how is welfare money distributed? Pensions take the biggest chunk, 2 trillion euros. Sickness and health care is second with nearly 1.5 trillion euros, followed by family and child support measures with 0.4 trillion euros.

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