Brussels, 14/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - According to a report published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg on "Social protection in Europe between 1991 and 2000", GDP fell from 27.5% in 1999 to 27.3% in 2000. It has been falling steadily since 1996, when it was 28.4%. The statistics in this report demonstrate that: the lowest shares of GDP attributable to social protection were in Ireland (14.1%) and Spain (20.1%). The figure was highest in Sweden (32.3%), France (29.7%) and Germany (29.5%). Per capita expenditure also varies noticeably from one country to another when expressed in PPS2 (purchasing power standards). In 2000, it was 60% of the EU average in Spain and Portugal, but 150% in Luxembourg and 125% in Denmark.
The report also shows that: 1) old age and survivors represented almost half of all social spending in the EU: in 2000 the distribution of spending per function in the EU was: 46.4%, sickness and health care; 27.3%, family and children; 8.2%, disability; 8.1%, unemployment; 6.3% and housing, and social exclusion 3.7%. 2) Over the period 1995-2000, per capita social protection expenditure increased in real terms in all Member States except Finland (-0.1%). The sharpest rises were in Greece (+42.6% between 1995 and 2000), followed by Portugal (+27.1%) and Ireland (+21.4%). The lowest increases were in Denmark (+1.8%), Sweden (+5.2%) and Belgium (+6.7%).