General government expenditure by function (COFOG)

This document presents detailed information on government expenditure, broken down by function, for the individual EU Member States as well as for the euro area and the European Union. The COFOG classification describes government expenditure according to 10 major functions or purposes: 1) general public services, 2) defence, 3) public order and safety, 4) economic affairs, 5) environmental protection, 6) housing and community amenities, 7) health, 8) recreation, culture and religion, 9) education and 10) social protection. They are based on the data transmitted by Eurostat and are defined by reference to the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010).

Further information

• Methodological definitions can be found in the Methodological Notes to the General government expenditure by function (COFOG).
• The Manual on sources and methods for the compilation of COFOG Statistics provides detailed information on the methodological background for the compilation of COFOG data.
• Explanations of terms and abbreviations can be found in the ECB’s statistics glossary.