Government revenue, % of GDP · 1990–2024 · IMF · 151 countries
All general government revenue — taxes, social contributions, property and natural resource income — as a share of GDP. It is the broadest measure of the state's weight in the economy.
IMF, 1990-2024, 151 countries. The perimeter is wider than taxation alone: a rentier state can post a high rate with almost no taxes, its revenue coming from oil.
The rate says nothing about the quality of services delivered or about who bears the effort. Two countries at the same level may fund, one a universal health system, the other a security apparatus.
The global spread is vast: over 50% of GDP in the Nordic countries, under 15% across much of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It is this capacity to collect, more than the level of the schedule, that separates states able to act from those that are not.