Social protection in the European Union - Issue number 14/2005 - Products Statistics in Focus

This "Statistics in focus" describes and analyses expenditure and the financing of social protection in the different European countries. On average in the EU25, social protection expenditure accounted for 27.7% of GDP in 2002. This average masks wide disparities between countries. Expenditure on old-age and survivors functions accounts for a large part of social benefits in most countries. Different countries have markedly different systems for financing social protection.