Romania is bringing up the rear in the European Union in terms of 2015 per inhabitant spending on recreation, culture and religion, according to data released on Monday by the European Union's Eurostat statistical office.
An expenditure above 800 euros per inhabitant was registered in Luxembourg (with 1,068 euros) as well as in Denmark (843 euros). They were followed at a distance by Finland (565 euros), the Netherlands (561 euros), Sweden (499 euros), Austria (487 euros), Belgium (437 euros) and France (435 euros).
At the opposite end of the scale, expenditure stood below 150 euros per inhabitant in Romania (97 euros), Bulgaria (106 euros), Greece (113 euros), Lithuania (120 euros), Poland (126 euros), Portugal (130 euros) and Slovakia (149 euros). On average in 2015, expenditure on 'recreation, culture and religion' amounted to 299 per inhabitant in the EU.
In 2015, the EU 28 Member States reported nearly 153 billion of government expenditure on 'recreation, culture and religion.'
This figure is equivalent to 1.0 percent of the EU's GDP. In comparison, this is much lower than the amount spent on other main functions such as 'social protection' (expenditure equivalent to 19.2 percent of GDP in 2015), 'health' (7.2 percent), 'education' (4.9 percent) or even 'defence' (1.4 percent). However, it is higher than public expenditure on 'environmental protection' (0.8 percent) and 'housing and community amenities' (0.6 percent).
In 2015, the ratio to GDP of government expenditure for 'recreation, culture and religion' varied across EU Member States. Ireland (0.6 percent), Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom (all three 0.7 percent) spent the least in relative terms, while Hungary (2.1 percent) and Estonia (2.0 percent) spent the most. 21 of the 28 Member States recorded a ratio of 1.0 percent or more.