In 2012, Social Protection accounted for 33.9 per cent of total General Government Expenditure, followed by expenditure on General Public Services, Education and Health, the National Statistics Ofice reported today.
Total General Government expenditure for 2012 was €2,963.1 million, an increase of €198.9 million compared with the previous year. There were increases in Social Protection (€60.5 million), mainly pensions; Economic Affairs (€39.7 million); Health (€28.0 million); and Education (€23.5 million). Partly offsetting these was a fall in Defence expenditure (€5.3 million).
Largely in line with earlier years, the highest expenditure in 2012 was on Social Protection (33.9 per cent), followed by General Public Services (15.4 per cent), Education (13.7 per cent) and Health (13.4 per cent). Expenditure on Housing and Community amenities was the lowest, followed by Defence, representing 0.9 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively.
In total, General Government Expenditure rose to 43.3 per cent of GDP in 2012 from 41.6 per cent in 2011.
For 2012, the largest expenditure was on old age pensions (€593.1 million), hospital services (€265.8 million) and public debt transactions (€218.2 million).