In which areas does France spend more than euro area peer economies?
Bulletin No. 259, article 4. In 2024, public spending in France stood at 57.2% of GDP, among the highest in the euro area, just behind Finland. In 2023, the last year for which a breakdown of spending by function is available, France ranked first, with spending 7.5 percentage points of GDP higher than the euro area average (+9.3 percentage points of GDP compared to the euro area excluding France). This gap has widened significantly since 2001, when it stood at 5.5 percentage points of GDP (6.9 percentage points of GDP compared to the euro area excluding France). Two thirds of this gap can be explained by significantly higher social protection spending (+5.0 percentage points of GDP), and the remaining third by greater spending in certain sectors (economic affairs, housing, education). A comparison of public spending by function shows national differences in the level, structure, and efficiency of public spending, although these differences also reflect differences in tax practices, accounting, and public private financing.
1 In 2023, France stood out for having the highest and fastest growing public spending in the euro area
According to Eurostat’s April 2025 notification, public spending in France reached 57.1% of GDP in 20241 (ranking second in the euro area after Finland, where spending reached 57.6%), compared with 49.6% in the euro area and 47.8% in the euro area excluding France, a difference of 7.5 percentage points of GDP and 9.3 percentage points of GDP respectively. However, in this article, we use the breakdown of general government expenditure by function (COFOG)2 published by Eurostat and available until 2023. Thus, in 2023, French public spending was the highest in the euro area, reaching 57.0% of GDP, compared with an average of 49.5% in the euro area and 47.7% in the euro area excluding France, representing a gap of 7.5 percentage points of GDP and 9.3 percentage points of GDP respectively. This large gap has widened significantly since 2001, when it stood at only 5.5 points compared to the euro area average and 6.9 points compared to the euro area average excluding France (see Chart 1). This development can be explained by the fact that the public expenditure ratio in the euro area declined by 4 percentage points of GDP between 2010 and 2019 (4.4 percentage points of GDP in the euro area excluding France) as a result of consolidation in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis (2010 12) and during the subsequent economic recovery, while France’s public expenditure ratio fell by only 2.4 percentage points of GDP over the period. Since 2019 and the Covid 19 crisis, this gap has narrowed very slightly, with public spending rising more in the euro area (+2.5 percentage points of GDP between 2019 and 2023) than in France (+1.6 percentage points of GDP). This higher level of spending in France is primarily attributable to social protection spending, which accounts for 32.2% of GDP, compared with an average of 27.2% in the euro area. This 5.0 percentage points of GDP difference is mainly linked to pension expenditure (2.2 percentage points of GDP), health expenditure (1.5 percentage points of GDP) and, to a lesser extent, other social expenditure such as unemployment benefits (0.4 percentage point of GDP) (see Table 1 and Chart 2 below). France also stands out from the other major European countries in terms of its demographic structure and the choices made in a number of areas where public spending is particularly high. This is the case, for example, in economic affairs (+0.6 percentage point of GDP), housing (+0.4 percentage point of GDP) and education (+0.4 percentage point of GDP). …
1 The data from the Eurostat notification may differ from the annual accounts published by INSEE at the end of May, which show that spending amounted to 57.2% of GDP in France in 2024.
2 COFOG: classification of the functions of government. The data used in this article are as of 13 June 2025.
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Updated on the 1st of October 2025