The money spent by the governments of the 28 EU member states represents half the union’s GDP – but the amount varies from 35 per cent in Lithuania and Romania to more than 57 per cent in Finland, France and Denmark.
The average for the EU 28 was 48.1 per cent in 2014, down from 48.6 per cent, Eurostat reported last week.
Most of the money – 40.2 per cent – is spent on social protection, with health, public services like external affairs and public debt servicing, and education between them making up another 39.2 per cent.
Maltese government spending represented 43.8 per cent of the island’s GDP in 2014, up 1.6 percentage points since 2013.
Fourteen member states saw the percentage drop, and the same amount saw it rise – with Malta’s increase ranking as the second highest after Cyprus (7.7 percentage points).
| EU28 (%) | Malta (%) | |
| General public services | 14.1 | 16.5 |
| Defence | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| Public order and safety | 3.7 | 3.3 |
| Economic affairs | 8.8 | 12 |
| Environmental protection | 1.7 | 3.2 |
| Housing and community amenities | 1.4 | 0.8 |
| Health | 14.8 | 13.6 |
| Culture, religion and recreation | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Education | 10.3 | 13.9 |
| Social protection | 40.2 | 32.9 |