Eurostat

Tax to GDP ratio rises in the EU: country by country data

Eurostat reports the increase in taxes and social security contributions as a percentage of GDP in the European Union in 2024.

1 November 2025

HP45BH Luxembourg 08.04.2010 View of Eurostat of European union.

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

In the European Union, the tax-to-GDP ratio will rise in 2024, and thus the tax burden. As far as our country is concerned, the overall ratio, i.e. the sum of taxes and net social security contributions as a percentage of GDP, stands at 42.6 per cent in 2024, up from 41.4 per cent in 2023 and the highest level since 2020 (42.9 per cent), when GDP was reduced due to the pandemic caused by the Coronavirus.

These tax burden figures were confirmed by Eurostat tables on taxes in the EU countries in relation to GDP. According to Eurostat, the ratio stood at 40.4% in the EU as a whole in 2024, again up from 39.9% in 2023. Even in the eurozone, the tax-to-GDP ratio increased from 40.5% in 2023 to 40.9% in 2024.

Country-to-country variations

The ratio of taxes to Gross Domestic Product varies significantly among EU countries in 2024, with the highest shares of taxes and social contributions as a percentage of GDP recorded in Denmark (45.8%), France (45.3%), Belgium (45.1%), Austria (43.8%), Luxembourg (42.7%), Italy (42.6%), Sweden (42.5%) and Finland (42.3%). At the opposite end of the scale, Eurostat explains, are Ireland (22.4%), Romania (28.8%), Malta (29.3%) and Bulgaria (30.5%), as well as Switzerland (27.8%).

At EU level, tax revenue increased by 5.6% from 2023 to 2024, i.e. by approximately EUR 387 billion. In the available time series from 1995 to 2024, decreases in total absolute tax revenue are only observed in 2009 (-5.2%), due to the severe economic and financial crisis, and in 2020 (-3.6%), due to the Covid pandemic.

In Italy, the increase in absolute terms of total taxes in 2024 was in line with the EU, rising from EUR 887.192 billion in 2023 to EUR 937.108 billion in 2024, a growth of 5.63%. Compared to 2023, the tax-to-GDP ratio increased in 22 EU countries, as well as in Iceland and Switzerland, with the largest increases observed in Malta (from 26.7% in 2023 to 29.3% in 2024), Latvia (from 33.0% in 2023 to 35.5% in 2024), Slovenia (from 36.8% in 2023 to 38.8% in 2024) and Croatia (from 36.9% in 2023 to 38.6% in 2024). The increases in the tax-to-GDP ratio are due to the faster growth of tax revenues and social security contributions than GDP growth.

LA PRESSIONE FISCALE NEL VECCHIO CONTINENTE

Pre and post Covid fiscal policies

In absolute terms - explains Eurostat - revenue from taxes and social contributions increased by EUR 387 billion in the EU in 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching a total of EUR 7,281 billion. In the eurozone, revenue from taxes and social contributions increased by EUR 291 billion compared to 2023, reaching EUR 6,226 billion.

In order to explain these increases in the years 2023 and 2024, Eurostat also points out that the tax revenues of the EU countries have obviously been significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in recent years. Because almost all EU countries had to enact measures to defer the payment of taxes and social security contributions in 2020 in order to ease the grip of the crisis caused by the spread of the epidemic and the resulting shutdown of many activities and sectors. These crisis containment measures obviously resulted in taxes being accrued as revenue in 2020, but not paid until later periods, leading to an increase in government receivables. Some of the tax deferral measures continued in 2021 and 2022. In addition, several EU countries introduced temporary tax relief, which was not confirmed.

Finally, Eurostat explains that tax revenues amounted to 87.8 per cent of total general government revenues in 2024 in the European Union and in the same year, taxes on production and imports accounted for 12.9 per cent of GDP and current taxes on income and wealth stood at 13.3 per cent of GDP, while net social contributions reached 14 per cent of GDP.

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