ABSTRACT
In Germany social expenditures reached 3 per cent of GDP in 1900, and 5 per cent in 1915. The UK and Sweden were just five years behind Germany in this social welfare procession, and similarly France, but this was just a little slower to reach 5 per cent. This marked the beginning of an inexorable process, which took social expenditures in the major OECD countries to an average of 12 per cent of GDP in 1960, and 22 per cent in 1970.
