In order to accurately interpret the data included in Government at a Glance 2023, readers need to be familiar with the following methodological considerations that cut across a number of indicators. Starting with Chapter 2, individual indicators are presented in a standard format on two pages. The first page contains text that explains the relevance of the topic and highlights some of the major differences observed across OECD countries. This is followed by a “Methodology and definitions” section, which describes the data sources and provides important information necessary to interpret the data. Closing the first page is a “Further reading” section, which lists useful background literature providing context to the data displayed. The second page showcases the data. Figures show current levels and, where possible, trends over time.
Government at a Glance 2023
Structure and indicators
Definition of government
Data on public finances are based on the definition of the sector “general government” found in the System of National Accounts (SNA). Accordingly, general government comprises ministries/departments, agencies, offices and some non-profit institutions at the central, state and local level, as well as social security funds. Data on revenues and expenditures are presented both for central and sub-central (state and local) levels of government and (where applicable) for social security funds. Data on employment also refer to general government, although data on employment by gender refer to the public sector, which covers both general government as well as publicly owned resident enterprises and companies. Finally, data on public management practices and processes refer to those practices and processes in the central level of government only unless specified differently.
Calendar year/fiscal year in National Accounts data
Unless specified, data from the OECD National Accounts are based on calendar years.
Data for Australia and New Zealand refer to fiscal years: 1 July of the year indicated to 30 June for Australia and 1 April of the year indicated to 31 March for New Zealand. For Japan, data regarding sub-sectors of general government and expenditures by classification of the functions of government (COFOG) refer to fiscal year.
The data on public finances and economics, based on the System of National Accounts (SNA), were extracted from the OECD National Accounts Statistics (database) and the Eurostat Government Finance Statistics (database) on 5 May 2023. The data on public employment were extracted from the OECD National Accounts Statistics (database) and the ILOSTAT (database) on 17 April 2023.
Country coverage
Government at a Glance 2023 includes data for all 38 OECD countries based on available information. The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
Some additional accession countries, such as Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, as well as other OECD key partners also supplied data for some indicators. Data for these non-member countries are presented separately at the end of tables and figures.
Country abbreviations
OECD averages and totals
Averages
In figures, the OECD average is presented as unweighted, arithmetic mean or weighted average of the OECD countries for which data are available. It does not include data for non-member countries. In the notes, OECD countries for whom data are not available are listed.
If a figure depicts information for one or more years, the OECD average includes all OECD countries with available data. For instance, an OECD average for 2007 published in this edition includes all current OECD countries with available information for that year, even if at that time they were not members of the OECD. If an OECD country is not included in the OECD average for a particular indicator this is generally due to a lack of backwards series and/or incompleteness and consistency of information in a certain domain.
In the case of National Accounts data, averages refer to the weighted average, unless otherwise indicated. The OECD average is calculated for 2021 as not all OECD countries have data available for 2022. However, together with the OECD average, the OECD-EU average is also included in this framework. The OECD-EU group comprises countries which are both members of the OECD and European Union (namely: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden; the United Kingdom is not part of this composition as is not anymore, an EU member country). For these OECD and OECD-EU averages, the method of aggregation for the calculation of the indicators expressed as ratios (e.g. government expenditures in terms of GDP) use the denominator as weight (in this case the GDP, market prices, which is expressed in PPP).
Totals
OECD totals are most commonly found in tables and represent the sum of data in the corresponding column for the OECD countries for which data are available. Totals do not include data for non-member countries. In the notes, OECD countries for whom data are not available are listed.
Online supplements
For several indicators, additional tables and figures presenting country-specific data or annexes with complementary information on the indicator methodology can be found online. When available, these are noted in the “Methodology and definitions” section of the indicator. Government at a Glance 2023 also offers access to StatLinks, a service that allows readers to download the featured data’s corresponding Excel files. StatLinks are found at the bottom right-hand corner of the tables or figures and can be typed into a web browser or, in an electronic version of the publication, clicked on directly.
In addition, the following supplementary materials are available online at: www.oecd.org/publication/government-at-a-glance/2023/:
The Government at a Glance data portal includes a selection of indicators in interactive format.
Country fact sheets that present key data by country compared with the OECD average.
The Government at a Glance statistical database, which includes regularly updated data for a selection of quantitative indicators via OECD.Stat and the publication of qualitative data for the surveys collected by the Public Governance Directorate of the OECD via a dedicated web platform.
Per capita indicators
Some indicators (e.g. expenditures, revenues and government debt) are shown on a per capita (i.e. per person) basis. The underlying population estimates are based on the System of National Accounts notion of residency. They include persons who are resident in a country for one year or more, regardless of their citizenship, and also include foreign diplomatic personnel and defence personnel together with their families, students studying and patients seeking treatment abroad, even if they stay abroad for more than one year. The one-year rule means that usual residents who live abroad for less than one year are included in the population, while foreign visitors (for example, tourists) who are in the country for less than one year are excluded. An important point to note in this context is that individuals may feature as employees of one country (contributing to the gross domestic product [GDP] of that country via production), but residents of another (with their wages and salaries reflected in the gross national income of their resident country).
Purchasing power parities
Purchasing power parities (PPPs) are the rates of currency conversion that equalise the purchasing power of different countries by eliminating differences in price levels between countries. When converted by means of PPPs, expenditures across countries are in effect expressed at the same set of prices, meaning that an equivalent bundle of goods and services will have the same cost in both countries, enabling comparisons across countries that reflect only the differences in the volume of goods and services purchased.
PPPs for current and historical series are produced and updated by the OECD with a specific procedure. PPPs for a given year T are published in five steps:
1. At T+2 months: first PPP estimates, for GDP only
2. At T+6 months: second PPP estimates, based on detailed extrapolations, for GDP, households’ actual individual consumption (AIC) and individual household consumption (IHC)
3. At T+12 months: third PPP estimates, incorporating all price and expenditure data for year T
4. At T+24 months: fourth PPP estimates, incorporating updated expenditure estimates
5. At T+36 months: final PPP estimates for year T.
Historical PPP data until 2021 might be revised at the end of March of each year in order to incorporate revisions in National Accounts’ deflators. In addition, first estimates for 2022 (GDP only) will be produced in this month. In December 2016, historical PPP data until 2012 were exceptionally revised for all European countries.
Additional information is also available at www.oecd.org/sdd/prices-ppp/.
Composite indicators
This publication includes descriptive composite indices in narrowly defined areas related to budgeting practices and infrastructure planning and delivery. These composite indexes are a practical way of summarising discrete, qualitative information. The composites presented in this publication were created in accordance with the steps identified in the Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators (Nardo et al., 2008[1]).
Details about the methodology used to construct the composite indicators on green budgeting, gender budgeting, communications by independent fiscal institutions, and infrastructure governance are available in Annexes A and B. While the composite indicators were developed in co-operation with OECD countries and are based on theory and/or best practices, the variables included in the indexes and their relative weights are based on expert judgments and, as a result, may change over time. Details about the composites on sectoral regulators is found in (Casullo, Durand and Cavassini, 2019[2]).
Signs and acronyms
Framework of the publication
The Focus Chapter of this edition on the topic of Democratic Resilience in an Era of Multiple Crises builds from the OECD Reinforcing Democracy Initiative and argues that governments must invest further in democratic resilience to address risks from multiple, simultaneous crises and emerging threats to democracy. Drawing from evidence and data collected from the OECD Public Governance Committee, the Focus Chapter calls on governments to adopt more advanced practices to enhance democratic governance and build trust in public institutions. Three specific areas for government action are identified, including to: i) Build on democratic strengths such as citizen and stakeholder participation and representation, inclusion, innovation and co-operation; ii) Reinforce key governance competencies to support delivery in the context of multiple crises; and iii) Protect against active threats to public trust arising from failings in public integrity and mis- or disinformation.
In turn, the 2023 edition of Government at a Glance presents a new structure around three broad categories: 1) Trust and satisfaction with public services; 2) Achieving results with good governance practices; and 3) What resources public institutions use and how are they managed. Figure 1 presents the conceptual framework for Government at a Glance.
Figure 1. Conceptual framework Government at a Glance
Trust and satisfaction with public services
This section includes evidence on public governance outcomes (i.e. trust in public institutions and satisfaction with public services) as perceived by people as well as some of the drivers leading to high or low levels for each of these indicators. Based on the OECD survey on the Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, for the first time this issue of Government at a Glance includes primary evidence on the levels trust in different institutions as well as on the drivers of trust in the civil service and on socioeconomic characteristics affecting trust levels (Chapter 2).
The satisfaction with public services chapter is based on the serving citizens framework that encompasses indicators on access, responsiveness and quality of services across three sectors: healthcare, education, and justice. As usual the selection of indicators has been agreed with health and education experts at the OECD. Following OECD research on the drivers of services performance this edition presents and streamlined selection of indicators encompassing fewer but better targeted indicators (Baredes, 2022[3]). The scorecards monitoring the relative performance and evolution over time are also maintained. In addition, for the first time this edition includes indicators on administrative services as the fourth sector for which indicators are presented in the chapter; however, the amount of information available does not allow yet to include them in the scorecards (Chapter 3).
Achieving results with good governance practices
In order to design and implement public policies and deliver public services, public institutions work through public governance processes and practices undertaken by governments to deliver to people. These address the means used by public administrations to fulfil their duties and obtain their goals. In consequence, they are often essential for ensuring the rule of law, accountability, fairness, advance in the green transition and ensure openness of government actions. Public sector reforms often target these processes; as such, they capture the public’s attention. The data included in this section are generated by the different Public Governance communities and are to a large extent the specificity of Government at a Glance. This edition includes chapters on the governance of the policy cycle (Chapter 4), budgeting practices (Chapter 5), regulatory governance (Chapter 6), managing public procurement (Chapter 7) infrastructure planning and delivery (Chapter 8) as and digital government and open government data (Chapter 9).
What resources public institutions use and how are they managed
This section of the publication refers to the resources used by governments to deliver as well as how they are mixed; these resources correspond to labour and capital. The chapters that describe inputs and public management practices include public revenues and production costs (Chapter 10) public spending (Chapter 11) and public employment (Chapter 12) as well as managing human resources (Chapter 13).
References
[3] Baredes, B. (2022), “Serving citizens: Measuring the performance of services for a better user experience”, OECD Working Papers on Public Governance, No. 52, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/65223af7-en.
[2] Casullo, L., A. Durand and F. Cavassini (2019), “The 2018 Indicators on the Governance of Sector Regulators - Part of the Product Market Regulation (PMR) Survey”, OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 1564, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a0a28908-en.
[1] Nardo, M. et al. (2008), Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators: Methodology and User Guide, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/sdd/42495745.pdf.