In 2015, almost €86 billion of general government expenditure was spent by EU Member States on housing and community amenities. This figure is equivalent to 0.6% of the EU's GDP.
In addition, Member States spent nearly €81 bn on social protection expenditure related to housing (equivalent to 0.5% of the EU's GDP).
This news item marks today's World Habitat Day, which has the theme "Housing policies: Affordable Homes".
Highest share of expenditure on 'housing and community amenities' in Bulgaria
In 2015, the ratio of government expenditure on 'housing and community amenities' to GDP varied by one to ten across the EU Member States. Overall, six of 28 Member States recorded a ratio of 1% or more.
In relative terms, Bulgaria (2.1%), Cyprus (1.8%) and Romania (1.5%) spent the highest proportion of GDP on 'housing and community amenities'. They were followed by France and Hungary (both 1.1%) as well as Latvia (1.0%).
At the lower end were Denmark and Greece (both 0.2%), Belgium, Lithuania and the Netherlands (all 0.3%), followed by Germany, Estonia, Malta, Austria and Finland (all 0.4%).
The source dataset can be found here.
Highest share of expenditure on social protection related to housing in the United Kingdom
For general government expenditure devoted to social protection related to housing, the picture is quite different, with the United Kingdom (1.3% of GDP), France (0.9%), Ireland (0.8%) and Denmark (0.7%) having the highest ratios to GDP.
In contrast, this ratio was marginal (less than 0.1% of GDP) in Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.
The source dataset can be found here.
You can read more about general government expenditure on 'housing and community amenities' (according to the Classification of the Functions of Government - COFOG) in our online article. An interactive infographic is also available on the Eurostat website.
Please also read our previously published news items on a similar topic:
General government expenditure on defence
General government expenditure on recreation, culture and religion
General government expenditure on public order and safety
General government expenditure on health
General government expenditure on education