Government expenditure broken down by function in 2020 National accounts - 2014 Base
The government expenditure are broken down by an international nomenclature, COFOG (Classification of the Functions of Government).
This classification divides government expenditure in ten categories according to their function (general public services, defence, public order and safety, economic affairs, environmental protection, housing and community amenities, health, recreation, culture and religion, education, social protection) and assess their relative importance.
Warning
These data will be published at European level by Eurostat in the first quarter of
2022 and may be revised at the time of this publication.
General government expenditure by function is available from 1995 to 2020 for general
government as a whole, as well as for central government, local government and social
security funds. The distinction between State government and Miscellaneous bodies
of central government is available from 2009 to 2020.
Pour comprendre
General government expenditures are classified according to an international classification: COFOG (Classification of the Functions of the Government) or, in French, CFAP (Classification des fonctions des administrations publiques).
This classification allows the breakdown of general government expenditures in 10 categories by purpose (general public services, defence, public order and security, economic affairs, environmental protection, housing and community amenities, health, recreation, culture and religion, education, social protection) and to value their respective importance.
Field of general government and amont of expenditures are those of national accounting.
By convention, expenditure of debt interests, when the purpose of this interest expenditure cannot be distinguished, are recorded under the "General public services" function. Thus, public debt interests are recorded as "General public services" whereas those paid by social security funds are divided between "Health" and "Social protection", the only functions which they serve. Allocation of transfer expenditures (current transfers or capital transfers) is made according to the financed expenditure when this one is identified. On the contrary, it is, by convention, recorded as "General public services". This is the case of the total operating grant (dotation globale de fonctionnement - DGF) paid by central government to local governments. These conventions make this purpose of expenditure more difficult to read by sub-sector. The delicate split between health expenditure and social protection expenditure may distort international results comparability.
Are recorded in the French accounts:
- as "Health", expenditure regarding the supported health care (reimbursement of medical consultations and pharmaceuticals, etc.);
- as "Social protection", monetary transfers to households intended for compensation of losses of income due to illness and to occupational accidents (daily allowances).