Public spending as a share of GDP is the size of the state relative to the economy, and the other side of the fiscal ledger from the debt chart: the state either taxes, borrows, or prints to pay for this. It is the standard gauge of how much of the economy flows through government.

$$ \text{Spending-to-GDP}=\frac{\text{general government expense}}{\text{GDP}}\times 100 $$

The data is general government expense as a percentage of GDP from the World Bank/IMF Government Finance Statistics, covering the total cost of the state: consumption, investment, transfers and interest. It runs annually from 1972.

France sits at the high end at roughly half of GDP. The United Kingdom and Germany sit in the mid-range, the United States, Japan and Australia are leaner, and India is the smallest in this set. China is not shown because its GFS expense series is not published for this indicator.

• United States: WB GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS
• United Kingdom: WB GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS
• France: WB GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS
• Germany: WB GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS
• Japan: WB GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS
• Australia: WB GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS
• India: WB GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS
• Frequency: Annual, from 1972