Romania was among the EU countries that have allocated the lowest percentage of its GDP for the social protection, 11.5 percent, according to data presented Monday by the Statistical Office of the EU (Eurostat). The percentage of GDP allocated for social protection expenditure in the EU ranges from below 10 pct in Ireland (9.6 pct) to over a quarter in Finland (25.6 pct).
According to Eurostat, 10.3 pct of expenditures were allocated in 2015 to the "old age" group, while Romania recorded only 8.5 percent. Health spending accounted for the second largest area of expenditure in the EU (7.2 pct of the GDP), from over 8 pct of total government spending in Denmark, France, Netherlands and Austria to merely 2.6 pct in Cyprus, 3.8 pct in Latvia and 4.2 pct in Romania. Education spending accounted for 4.9 pct of the GDP of the European Union in 2015, from 7 pct in Denmark, 6.5 pct in Sweden, 6.4 pct in Belgium and only 3.1 pct in Romania.