Social aid declining in Europe, official statistics show

EU nations devoted over a quarter of their gross domestic product to social protection in 2006 but the rate is falling, according to Eurostat agency reported on Tuesday.

The overall rate of social spending stood at 26.9 per cent of GDP but national differences within the 27 EU member states remained large.

France headed the social list, spending 31.1 per cent of GDP on healthcare, family, unemployment and housing benefits in 2006.

Sweden and Belgium were also recorded as spending over 30 per cent of GDP on social protection that year.

At the other end of the spectrum were eastern EU nations with Romania at 14 per cent, Lithuania at 13.2 per cent and Estonia at 12.4 per cent.

The general overall trend was for declining social spending, though all the figures easily predate the credit-crunch, recession and associated government bailouts seen since the latter stages of last year.

The EU expenditure on social protection was recorded at 27.2 per cent of GDP in 2003, then 27.1 per cent in 2004 and 2005, before the latest figure of 26.9 per cent for 2006.

Social aid when tallied per inhabitant sees Luxembourg rise to the top of the list with €13,458 spent on each of its residents in 2006, easily topping The Netherlands (€9,099) and Sweden (€8,998).

The poorer eastern EU states fared poorly in comparison, with Bulgaria and Romania offering just €1,200 per head.

For the EU as a whole the figure stood at €8,520.

Almost half the social spending, 46 percent, went on old age pensions and "survivors benefits" - payouts to a family after the loss of the breadwinner.

Healthcare took the next biggest chunk of 29 per cent of social spending followed by disability benefits and family benefits at eight per cent each.