asked the Taoiseach the percentage of GNP spent in this country on (a) health, (b) education, (c) housing, (d) social welfare, (e) defence and security, and (f) foreign aid; and if he will provide similar figures for each of the other eight countries of the EEC.
Written Answers. - GNP Percentage.
478.
The available information relates to public expenditure. The following table shows public expenditure, as compiled for the national accounts on (a) health, (b) education, (c) housing, (d) social welfare, (e) defence, public order and safety, and (f) foreign aid, expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product at market prices in Ireland in 1975. Gross domestic product has been used in deriving the percentages instead of gross national product as this is the aggregate generally used for international comparisons of the Community countries.
Public expenditure as a percentage of GDP in Ireland in 1975.
|
Health |
Education |
Housing |
Social Welfare |
Defence, public order and safety |
Foreign Aid |
|
% |
|||||
|
6.3 |
6.1 |
4.1 |
10.8 |
3.9 |
0.1 |
Comparable figures for all the EEC countries for all these categories are not available. The figures shown in the following table for the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Italy have been derived from data included in a national accounts publication of the EEC. Care must be exercised in interpreting the figures since they may not be strictly comparable between countries.
Public expenditure as a percentage of GDP in 1975.
|
Country |
Health |
Education |
Social Welfare |
|
% |
|||
|
Ireland |
6.3 |
6.1 |
10.8 |
|
United Kingdom |
5.1 |
6.8 |
10.7 |
|
Belgium† |
4.1 |
7.0 |
18.3 |
|
Germany* |
5.6 |
4.8 |
15.2 |
|
Italy† |
4.3 |
5.4 |
15.1 |
† 1974 * 1973
The following table shows figures for foreign aid as a percentage of GDP at market prices.
|
Ireland |
United Kingdom |
Belgium |
Germany |
Italy |
France |
Netherlands |
Luxembourg |
Denmark |
|
% |
||||||||
|
0.09 |
0.38 |
0.62 |
0.40 |
0.11 |
0.62 |
0.74 |
n.a. |
0.58 |