In 2014, general government expenditure in Malta stood at 43.8%.

This was revealed by Eurostat in a raft of figures published on Tuesday.

As percentages go, this was below the European average (both Euro-area and EU, 49 and 48.1 respectively) but catching up.

In fact, Malta increased its general government expenditure by 1.6% over the previous year, thus becoming the second highest increase in the EU after post-crisis Cyprus which increased by 7.7%.

In 2014, total general government expenditure accounted for more than half of GDP in eight EU Member States, with the highest shares being recorded in Finland (58.7%), France (57.2%) and Denmark (57.0%).

Conversely, total general government expenditure represented less than 40% of GDP in six Member States: Lithuania and Romania (both 34.9%), Latvia (36.9%), Estonia (38.8%), Ireland (39.0%) and Bulgaria (39.2%).

In 2014, the ratio of general government expenditure to GDP decreased in a majority of EU Member States compared with 2013.

The highest increase in the ratio of general government expenditure to GDP was recorded by far in Cyprus (+7.7 percentage points between 2013 and 2014), followed by Malta (+1.6 pp), and Austria (+1.4 pp).

In contrast, significant decreases were registered in Greece(-10.7 pp) and Slovenia(-9.9 pp).

Total general government expenditure as percentage of GDP dropped at EU level by 0.5 pp in 2014 compared with 2013, and by 0.4 pp in the euro area.

In all EU Member States, social protection represented the most important area of general government expenditure. Its weight varied across EU Member States from 28.6% of total general government expenditure in Cyprus to 44.4% in Luxembourg. Eight EU Member States devoted more than 40% of their expenditure to social protection.

Social protection expenditure can be further broken down into nine detailed groups. The group 'old age', which includes pensions, made up the largest part of social protection expenditure in all EU Member States.

 More than a quarter of total general government expenditure was devoted in 2013 to old age in Italy (27.6%), Bulgaria (25.9%), Luxembourg (25.8%), Austria (25.3%) and Romania (25.1%). 'Old age' accounted for 21.4% of total general government expenditure in the EU, and for 22.0% in the euro area.

The group 'sickness and disability' represented a notable share in the Netherlands (10.1% of total general government expenditure in 2013), Croatia (9.5%) and Denmark (9.0%), while the share of 'family and children' related expenditure was highest in Denmark (8.8% of total general government expenditure) and Luxembourg (8.0%).

Expenditure for 'unemployment' was highest in Ireland (7.6% of total general government expenditure), followed by Spain (6.7%), Denmark (5.9%), Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands (all 4.3%).

Member States differ somewhat in the second most important area of general government expenditure - health.

Expenditure related to health came second in eleven EU Member States: Slovakia (health accounted for 18.3% of total general government expenditure in 2013), the Netherlands (17.7%), the Czech Republic and Ireland (both 17.4%), the United Kingdom (16.7%), Lithuania (15.9%), Germany (15.8%), Austria (15.6%), Denmark (15.3%), Finland (14.5%) and France (14.2%).

On the contrary, general public services, which include external affairs and public debt transactions, represented the second most important type of general government expenditure in Cyprus (24.4%), Hungary (20.9%), Croatia (18.8%), Portugal (17.9%), Italy (17.5%), Malta (16.5%), Belgium and Spain (both 15.5%), Sweden (14.6%) and Poland (13.5%).

Economic affairs expenditure made up the second largest share of general government expenditure in Greece (25.5%) and Slovenia (24.2%) mainly driven by one-off support to financial institutions, as well as in Romania (17.5%) and Bulgaria (13.2%), while it was education in Latvia (15.7%), Estonia (15.4%) and Luxembourg (12.7%).

With a share above 15% of total general government expenditure in 2013, Cyprus (15.7%) and the three Baltic EU Member States - Latvia and Lithuania (both 15.7%) as well as Estonia (15.4%) - recorded the highest proportions devoted to education among EU Member States, while Greece (7.6%), Italy (8.0%) and Romania (8.1%) had the lowest.

The area 'culture, recreation and religion' accounted for less than 3.5% of general government expenditure in every EU Member State, except Estonia (5.4%), Latvia (4.2%) and Hungary (3.7%).

The share of general government expenditure related to environmental protection was generally limited across EU Member States, with the notable exceptions of Malta and the Netherlands (both 3.2%).

The share of 'public order and safety' expenditure in total government expenditure was higher in Slovakia (8.0%), Bulgaria (7.0%) and Romania (6.3%) than in other EU Member States, while for 'defence' the United Kingdom (5.0%), Estonia (4.7%), Poland (3.9%), Cyprus (3.8%) and Greece (3.6%) registered the highest proportions.

In the case of Malta, we spend 16.5% on general public services, just 1.6% on defence, 3.3% on public order and safety, 12% on economic affairs, 3.2% on environmental protection, 0.8% on housing and community amenities, 13.6% on health, 2.1% on culture, recreation and religion, 13.9% on education, while the social protection bill comes up to 32.9% subdivided as follows: 3.5% on sickness and disability, 19.5% on old age, 4% on survivors, 2.5% on family and children, and 1.4% on unemployment.