Institutional Framework Database for Social Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean

Financing dimension

The financing dimension focuses on the analysis of the relative size of mobilized resources for social development in terms of fiscal priority and cyclicity, as well as stability and trends in the investment amounts allocated to each social function. Following the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) defined by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the sectoral level of different ministries of social areas, these functions include social protection, health, education, housing, culture, and environment.

Latin America and the Caribbean (25 countries): public social spending in four country groups with different outcomes in social protection and promotion (simple average of each group), 2014, 2019 and 2023, central government
(United States dollars at 2018 prices and percentages of GDP)

Indicator	Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay			Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru			Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua a/			The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago
Indicator	2014	2019	2023	2014	2019	2023	2014	2019	2023	2014	2019	2023
Public social spending per capita (2018 US dollars)	1612	1806	1878	666	746	764	278	309	338	1405	1447	1731
Public spending on social protection per capita (2018 US dollars)	744	839	893	257	285	299	59	60	69	340	357	395
Public social spending (percentage of GDP)	12.3	13.2	13.2	10.0	10.4	10.6	9.4	9.5	10.0	10.3	11.0	11.0
Public spending on social protection (percentage of GDP)	5.8	6.5	6.7	3.7	3.9	4.1	1.8	1.6	2.0	2.2	2.5	2.4
Public spending on education (percentage of GDP)	3.6	3.7	3.5	3.4	3.5	3.2	4.4	4.5	4.2	4.2	4.2	3.7
Public spending on health (percentage of GDP)	1.9	2.1	2.3	2.1	2.3	2.6	0.9	0.7	0.8	2.6	2.9	3.1
Public spending on housing and community services (percentage of GDP)	0.71	0.53	0.42	0.39	0.36	0.35	0.83	0.76	0.75	0.87	0.74	1.14
Public spending on recreation, culture and religion (percentage of GDP)	0.13	0.12	0.10	0.25	0.24	0.18	0.10	0.09	0.19	0.22	0.31	0.37
Public spending on environmental protection (percentage of GDP)	0.13	0.12	0.10	0.13	0.14	0.14	0.09	0.11	0.11	0.24	0.36	0.36

a/ Data for the Plurinational State of Bolivia in the 2023 column correspond to 2021.

Metadata

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), based on official information reported by governments of the region.