Among the main functions of general government expenditure in the European Union (EU), ‘social protection’ was by far the largest in 2016, equivalent to 19.1% of GDP. The next most important areas were ‘health’ (7.1%), ‘general public services’ such as external affairs and public debt transactions (6.0%), ‘education’ (4.7%) and ‘economic affairs’ (4.0%). ‘Public order and safety’ (1.7%), ‘defence’ (1.3%), ‘recreation, culture and religion’ (1.0%), ‘environmental protection’ (0.7%) and ‘housing and community amenities’ (0.6%) had more limited weights. However, these EU-level data mask significant differences between the Member States in the share of GDP dedicated to each function of general government expenditure.

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