France spent €1.7 trillion in 2025, about €153 billion more than it raised. These figures cover central government, local government and social security; receipts include taxes, social contributions and other income.
Where the money goes
Social protection and health take 57.1% of public spending. The latest detailed breakdown is for 2024, a year behind the headline accounts. But “social protection” is a broad label. What is inside it?
“Old age” means retirement income and support for older people
The €392 billion old-age category includes retirement pensions, care allowances, accommodation, home help and administration of those schemes. The UN’s classification also explicitly includes government-employee and military pension schemes.
Survivors’ benefits have a separate category. Healthcare for older people belongs under health. Salaries run across these purposes; adding them as another slice would double-count spending.
Does ageing explain the growth? Partly. DREES links rising pensioner numbers to baby-boom retirements and longer lives, while retirement-age reforms slow that growth. Pension costs depend on both how many people receive payments and how much they receive.
For 2024, DREES identifies inflation-linked pension increases as the main driver. Basic pension rates were uprated by 5.3% from January; the general scheme (CNAV)’s year-end direct-pension recipient count rose 1.0%. These are different measures, not percentages to add together. They show why ageing alone is an incomplete explanation; they do not apportion the whole old-age budget’s growth.
What is growing?
Over the decade, old-age support and health made the largest additions to the euro bill. The latest year is more mixed: economic-affairs spending fell as energy-price support was withdrawn.
These are euros at the prices of each year. Some growth buys more services or supports more people; some pays higher prices or raises benefit amounts. The chart does not measure inflation-adjusted growth.
More euros can still mean a smaller share of GDP
Social protection grew from €528bn to €693bn—up 31% between 2014 and 2024. Yet its GDP share fell from 24.5% to 23.7%, because nominal GDP grew faster. A falling share here does not mean fewer euros were spent.
Old age illustrates the distinction: €293bn became €392bn, while 13.6% of GDP became 13.4%. Health grew on both measures. The longer history also matters: social protection’s GDP share remains above its 22% in 1995.
The deficit has a revenue side, too
The deficit widened between 2022 and 2024 even though spending fell relative to GDP: receipts fell further. INSEE points to weaker taxable bases and tax reductions. Spending exceeded receipts throughout this 31-year record. Nor is interest the whole problem: the IMF estimates a 2025 deficit before interest of 3% of GDP.
The deficit improved to 5.1% of GDP in 2025, with stronger receipts and slower spending growth. A large spending category is not automatically the cause of each deterioration.
By June 2026, debt stood at €3.6 trillion, or 119% of GDP. Deficits add to the debt stock; financial transactions and GDP growth also affect the ratio. These accounts do not predict default.
How this was made
The three CSVs and definitions, offline data build and chart script reproduce the figures from archived Eurostat and INSEE releases. Amounts are rounded only for display. DREES supplies pension context, not replacement totals: its accounting scope differs. Release dates vary and figures remain subject to revision.