Download Government Finance Statistics 2011

Classification of the
functions of government
(COFOG)
20 November 2015
Seminar on information provision of
social economy
Sofia, Bulgaria 2015
BACKGROUND
 appropriate basis to examine the structure of
government expenditure;
 3-level classification with 10 "Divisions" at the
top level, each of which is broken down to 6
"groups" at the next level of details; all countries
provide group level data;
 The purpose of this classification is to ensure
reliable, uniform and comprehensive government
expenditure data, comparable across countries;
 General and timely statistics.
2<#>
BACKGROUND
 COFOG TF (once per year) in order to provide
methodological guidance for the treatment of
various kinds of expenditure and the consistency
of COFOG data with other breakdowns of public
and private expenditure by means of comparing
the underlying functional specific classifications;
3<#>
BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE COFOG –
SPECIAL CLASSIFICATION
 Collective goods
 In kind
 In cash
 Individual goods
 In kind (for allocative, distributive and mixed
motives)
 In cash (assumes that non-market recreation,
culture and religion is mainly
provided/supported by the government
4<#>
COFOG classification structure










01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
general public service
defence
public order and safety
economic affairs
environment protection
housing and community amenities
health
recreation, culture and religion
education
social protection
5<#>
Total general government expenditure, 2014,
% of GDP
6<#>
Evolution of total general government
expenditure, EU-28, 2006-2013, cumulated
% of GDP
7<#>
Total general government expenditure on
social protection, 2013 (% of GDP)
8<#>
In all EU
Member
States,
social
protection
represented
the most
important
area of
general
government
expenditure
9<#>
Conclusion
 Eurostat provide a variety of statistical indicators
to help assess crucial social issues such as
exclusion, active measures for employment
promotion, equity, the role of private initiative in
social provision in addition to government
spending;
 EU MS are obliged to deliver data to Eurostat in
the field of government accounts, i.e. the data is
compulsory;
 Eurostat presents government finance statistics
(GFS) in an integrated way  harmonized and
10<#>
comparable way