Public budgets

Netherlands: public budget

What Netherlands's government raised and what it spent it on, from the figures its own budget laws or a statistics office publish. Solon places every figure on the same international classification, so it can be compared with any other place.

General government, 2015

Outturn: what came in and was spent

General government: central, state and local government and social security funds together, consolidated so that money passed between them is counted once, as Eurostat's government finance statistics (ESA 2010) count it.

Amounts in USD, converted from EUR at 2015's average rate (Eurostat).

Revenue: $336.8B · 43.5% of GDP
Spending: $351.03B · 45.3% of GDP
Surplus (+) or deficit (−): -$14.16B · -1.8% of GDP

What the money is spent on

Netherlands, 2015: spending by function, as a share of all spending

Netherlands, 2015: spending by function, as a share of all spending
Row	Value (%)	Note
Social protection	38	$133.46B
Health	16.8	$59.08B
Education	11.5	$40.26B
General public services	10.6	$37.31B
Economic affairs	9.7	$34.01B
Public order and safety	4.1	$14.43B
Environmental protection	3	$10.38B
Recreation, culture and religion	2.8	$9.66B
Defence	2.4	$8.54B
Housing and community amenities	1.1	$3.91B

Social protection$133.46B

Social protection, in detail, as a share of it

Social protection, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Old age	37.5	$50.03B
Sickness and disability	25.8	$34.45B
Social exclusion n.e.c.	13.9	$18.52B
Family and children	10.8	$14.43B
Unemployment	8.8	$11.72B
Housing	2.6	$3.47B
Survivors	0.5	$601.35M
R&D Social protection	0.1	$116.5M
Social protection n.e.c.	0.1	$107.62M

Health$59.08B

Health, in detail, as a share of it

Health, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Hospital services	47.3	$27.93B
Outpatient services	30.8	$18.19B
Medical products, appliances and equipment	11	$6.49B
Health n.e.c.	4.2	$2.5B
R&D Health	4.1	$2.4B
Public health services	2.7	$1.59B

Education$40.26B

Education, in detail, as a share of it

Education, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Secondary education	39.4	$15.85B
Pre-primary and primary education	30.4	$12.26B
Tertiary education	25.2	$10.13B
Subsidiary services to education	4.3	$1.74B
R&D Education	0.4	$166.43M
Education n.e.c.	0.2	$90.98M
Education not definable by level	0.1	$25.52M
Post-secondary non-tertiary education	0	$0

General public services$37.31B

General public services, in detail, as a share of it

General public services, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Executive and legislative organs, financial and fiscal affairs, external affairs	39.1	$14.58B
Public debt transactions	31.1	$11.6B
Basic research	11	$4.12B
Foreign economic aid	10	$3.72B
General services	8.5	$3.18B
General public services n.e.c.	0.2	$56.58M
R&D General public services	0.1	$42.16M
Transfers of a general character between different levels of government	0	$0

Economic affairs$34.01B

Economic affairs, in detail, as a share of it

Economic affairs, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Transport	52.5	$17.87B
Fuel and energy	15.7	$5.33B
R&D Economic affairs	10.4	$3.52B
Other industries	8.3	$2.81B
General economic, commercial and labour affairs	7.6	$2.6B
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	3.2	$1.08B
Mining, manufacturing and construction	1.8	$596.91M
Economic affairs n.e.c.	0.3	$103.18M
Communication	0.3	$93.2M

Public order and safety$14.43B

Public order and safety, in detail, as a share of it

Public order and safety, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Police services	45.2	$6.52B
Prisons	18.7	$2.7B
Law courts	14.6	$2.11B
Fire-protection services	11.6	$1.67B
Public order and safety n.e.c.	8.9	$1.29B
R&D Public order and safety	1	$138.69M

Environmental protection$10.38B

Environmental protection, in detail, as a share of it

Environmental protection, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Waste management	44.8	$4.65B
Waste water management	30.2	$3.14B
Pollution abatement	15.5	$1.61B
Protection of biodiversity and landscape	7.3	$753.35M
Environmental protection n.e.c.	1.3	$133.14M
R&D Environmental protection	0.9	$92.09M

Recreation, culture and religion$9.66B

Recreation, culture and religion, in detail, as a share of it

Recreation, culture and religion, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Recreational and sporting services	42.6	$4.11B
Cultural services	34.7	$3.35B
Broadcasting and publishing services	14.2	$1.37B
Religious and other community services	6.1	$586.93M
R&D Recreation, culture and religion	2	$196.38M
Recreation, culture and religion n.e.c.	0.3	$33.28M

Defence$8.54B

Defence, in detail, as a share of it

Defence, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Military defence	82.7	$7.07B
Defence n.e.c.	11.5	$978.58M
Foreign military aid	4.7	$401.64M
R&D Defence	1.1	$94.31M
Civil defence	0	$0

Housing and community amenities$3.91B

Housing and community amenities, in detail, as a share of it

Housing and community amenities, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Housing development	54.4	$2.13B
Community development	30.7	$1.2B
R&D Housing and community amenities	5.9	$231.89M
Street lighting	3.7	$144.24M
Water supply	3.1	$119.83M
Housing and community amenities n.e.c.	2.2	$87.65M

Where the money comes from

Netherlands, 2015: revenue by kind, as a share of all revenue

Netherlands, 2015: revenue by kind, as a share of all revenue
Row	Value (%)	Note
Social contributions	32.9	$110.7B
Taxes on income and wealth	26.7	$89.98B
Taxes on sales, production and imports	26	$87.58B
Sales, fees and charges	9.5	$31.88B
Income from property (interest, dividends, rent)	3.1	$10.38B
Other transfers received	1.1	$3.82B
Capital transfers and taxes received	0.7	$2.41B
Subsidies received	0	$41.05M

Taxes on sales, production and imports$87.58B

Taxes on sales, production and imports, in detail, as a share of it

Taxes on sales, production and imports, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Share	Note
Value added tax	56.7		$49.62B
Not broken down, or fitting no category	43.3		$37.96B

Over the years

Netherlands: revenue and spending, 1995–2025

Netherlands: revenue and spending, 1995–2025
Period	Revenue (% of GDP)	Spending (% of GDP)
1,995	46.1	54.8
1,996	46.2	48.1
1,997	44.9	46.5
1,998	44.1	45.4
1,999	44.6	44.3
2,000	44.3	43.2
2,001	43.6	44.1
2,002	42.6	44.8
2,003	42.6	45.8
2,004	42.9	44.7
2,005	42.9	43.4
2,006	44	44
2,007	43.1	43.3
2,008	44.2	44.3
2,009	43.3	48.4
2,010	43.6	48.9
2,011	43.4	47.8
2,012	43.8	47.6
2,013	44.6	47.5
2,014	44.5	46.7
2,015	43.5	45.3
2,016	44.1	43.9
2,017	44.2	42.8
2,018	43.9	42.4
2,019	44	42.1
2,020	44.1	47.8
2,021	43.6	45.9
2,022	43.3	43.3
2,023	43.7	44
2,024	43.6	44.4
2,025	43.6

Where these figures come from

Series read from Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) on 2026-11-11.

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