Cyprus social protection expenditure reached €6.59 billion in 2025

Preliminary figures from Eurostat indicate that Cyprus' expenditure on social protection rose by 5.1 percent in 2025, reaching approximately €6.59 billion compared to €6.28 billion in 2024. Despite this nominal increase, the expenditure as a percentage of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) remained largely stable, moving from 18.05 percent in 2024 to 18.07 percent in 2025. This figure remains significantly below the European Union average, which stood at 27.49 percent of GDP in 2025.

Across the European Union, total spending on social protection benefits reached an estimated €5.18 trillion, reflecting a 4.9 percent increase across all member states. While absolute spending rose everywhere, the EU-wide share of GDP allocated to social protection decreased slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 27.5 percent. Growth in spending was most pronounced in Croatia (15.4 percent), Bulgaria (12.1 percent), and Lithuania (11.6 percent), while Greece, Romania, and Finland recorded the lowest relative increases. Austria currently holds the highest level of social protection spending relative to its GDP at 32.4 percent, whereas Ireland, Malta, and Hungary report the lowest levels within the bloc.