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Published: 31 January 2008

General government expenditure by function 1997-2006

In National Accounts general government expenditure is classified by function according to the international Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG). The classification consists of 10 divisions.

The biggest expenditure item is social protection. The share of social protection expenditure of total general government expenditure has fallen by 1.1 percentage points from 1997 and stood at 41.8 per cent in 2006. The next biggest expenditure items were health, general public services and education. The share of health expenditure has grown by 2.8 percentage points during the reference period. In 2006 they formed 13.9 per cent of total general government expenditure. The share of education expenditure has grown by 0.6 percentage points and totalled 12 per cent of total expenditure in 2006. Expenditure targeted at economic affairs contracted by 0.4 percentage points during the reference period and made up 9.3 per cent of total expenditure in 2006. The average defence expenditure during the period has stayed fairly constant at approximately 3.2 per cent, whereas the share of public order and safety has shown a 0.5 percentage point growth. The share of expenditure on recreation, culture and religion had also remained constant, and it stood at 2.3 per cent of total expenditure in 2006. The share of environment protection has also shown a slight increase, whereas that of housing and community amenities has shown a falling trend from 1.2 to 0.6 per cent of total expenditure. The relatively small share of general government expenditure on environment protection in Finland is partly caused by the fact that municipal sewage and other waste management units are in national accounts classified into the enterprise sector.

 

General government expenditure by function 1997-2006*, as percentage of total expenditure

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
General public services	14.8	14.4	14.2	14.3	14.4	13.4	13.4	13.3	13.4	13.3
Defence	3.5	3.4	3.2	3.2	3.0	2.9	3.0	3.2	3.3	3.1
Public order and safety	2.5	2.6	2.7	2.8	2.8	2.7	2.8	3.0	3.0	3.0
Economic affairs	9.7	10.0	10.6	9.7	9.5	9.9	9.3	9.3	9.2	9.3
Environment protection	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7
Housing and community amenities	1.2	1.0	0.8	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.6	0.5	0.6
Health	11.1	11.2	11.3	11.9	12.2	12.6	12.9	13.2	13.6	13.9
Recreation, culture and religion	2.5	2.4	2.4	2.5	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.3
Education	11.4	11.7	11.6	12.1	12.4	12.2	12.3	12.1	12.0	12.0
Social protection	42.9	42.6	42.6	42.0	41.7	42.5	42.6	42.3	42.0	41.8
Total expenditure	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Source: National Accounts 1997-2006*. Statistics Finland

*preliminary

Inquiries: Mr Asko Kauppinen +358 9 1734 3216, rahoitus.tilinpito@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mr Ari Tyrkkö

Links: Eurostat publication Trends in government expenditure by function, 2000-2004

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Last updated 31.1.2008