How much did EU governments spend on fire protection?

In 2021, general government total expenditure in EU countries on fire protection services’ amounted to €34.1 billion, representing a 2.5% increase compared with 2020. The share in general government total expenditure was 0.5%. Overall, in the EU, government expenditure on fire protection services as a share of overall total expenditure remained stable at around 0.4 – 0.5% since the beginning of the time series in 2001.

The share of government expenditure on fire protection as a ratio of total expenditure varies among EU countries. In 2021, Lithuania and Romania had the highest share of expenditure on fire protection services with 0.7% of total expenditure, followed by Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Greece and Luxembourg with 0.6%. 

In contrast, Denmark reported the lowest share of expenditure on fire protection services in total expenditure at 0.1%, followed by Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Portugal and Slovenia, all with 0.3%. 

Source dataset: gov_10a_exp

Since 2011 and in the space of a decade, most EU countries increased their total expenditure as well as their expenditure on fire protection services. Luxembourg registered the highest increases in expenditure on fire protection services (+387%). Three EU countries decreased their spending on fire protection services in 2021 as compared to a decade earlier: Cyprus (-20%), Denmark (-17%) and Croatia (-14%).