Social protection expenditure in Malta was among the lowest in the EU, representing just 19 per cent of the gross domestic product.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, said today that social protection expenditure in the EU increased from 28.3 per cent of the GDP in 2011 to 28.7 per cent in 2014.

In 2014, the two main sources of funding of social protection at EU level were government contributions from taxes, making up 40% of total receipts, and social contributions (54%).

The EU average continued to mask major disparities between member states.

In 2014, social protection expenditure was highest in France (34.3%), followed by Denmark (33.5%), Finland (31.9%), the Netherlands (30.9%), Belgium (30.3%), Austria and Italy (both 30%).

In contrast, social protection expenditure stood below 20% of GDP in Latvia (14.5%), Lithuania (14.7%), Romania (14.8%), Estonia (15.1%), Bulgaria and Slovakia (both 18.5%), Malta and Poland (both 19%), the Czech Republic (19.7%) and Hungary (19.9%).

The disparities reflected differences in living standards but were also indicative of the diversity of national social protection systems and of the demographic, economic, social and institutional structures specific to each state, Eurostat said.

Eurostat includes money spent on social benefits, administration costs and other expenditure linked to social protection schemes in its calculations.