Malta is still below the EU average as regards government expenditure, but it is catching up.

At 43.2% of GDP (figures relate to 2014), government expenditure is below the 48.2% of the EU expenditure as a whole and the 49.4% in the euro area.

But analyzing the details, Malta spends 0.8% on defence. While the EU average is 1.3%, other countries spend even less than Malta, such as Luxembourg (0.3%), Hungary and Austria (0.6%).

Malta spends less on health (6.0%) than the EU average (7.2%), and spends 5.8% on education, better than the EU average of 4.9%. The European average is brought down by countries such as Bulgaria (4.1%) or 3.0% in Romania.

Malta then, along with many other Member States, spends more than double (13.7%) what it spends on health and education on social protection.

However, Greece spends more than Malta does on social protection (20.1%) more than the EU average of 19.5%. The European leaders on social protection, such as the Scandinavian model in Sweden, spends 21.3%, Britain with its Welfare State spends 16.5%, while the biggest spender is Finland with 25.4% followed by France with 24.8% and by Denmark with 24.5%. Other big spenders include Italy with 21.5%, and Austria with 21.7%