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Government expenditures in agriculture 2001–2023

Global and regional trends













FAO. 2025. Government expenditures in agriculture 2001–2023  Global and regional trends. FAOSTAT Analytical Briefs, No. 100. Rome. 



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    Booklet
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    Government expenditures in agriculture 2001–2024
    Global and regional trends
    2025
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    Government expenditures reflect countries’ priorities in terms of programmes and sectors and can be used as a direct response to cushion the impacts of economic and social challenges such as a global pandemic, natural disasters or increasing inflation. This brief analyses the latest data available in FAOSTAT for 2001–2024.In 2024, global public expenditures totalled USD 40 trillion in nominal terms, or 36 percent of the global gross domestic product. Of this amount, an estimated all-time high USD 725 billion went to agriculture.
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    Booklet
    Corporate general interest
    Government expenditures in agriculture 2001–2022
    Global and regional trends
    2023
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    Since 2012, FAO has collected government expenditure on agriculture (GEA) data through a questionnaire sent annually in May to more than 190 countries. Government expenditures reflect countries’ priorities in terms of programmes and sectors and can be used as a direct response to cushion the impacts of economic and social challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters or increasing inflation. This brief analyses the latest data, available for the period 2001–2022. In 2022, global government expenditures reached USD 36 trillion and represented 36.7 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Between 2001 and 2022, total government expenditures showed an increasing trend in nominal terms, from the current USD 12 trillion in 2001 to 37 trillion in 2021, and declined to USD 36 trillion in 2022. Throughout the period, government expenditures represented between 35 and 42 percent of the global GDP.
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    Booklet
    Corporate general interest
    Government expenditures in agriculture 2001–2020
    Global and regional trends
    2022
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    Since 2012 FAO collects Government Expenditure on Agriculture (GEA) data through a questionnaire sent annually in May to more than 190 countries. The questionnaire was jointly developed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), using the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG). The last update refers to the period 2001-2020. The total government expenditures recorded an all-time high in 2020 driven by the COVID-19 pandemic response. While governments employed a mixture of policy and fiscal measures to cushion the impacts of the pandemic (IMF, 2021), with considerable variations in the agriculture sector, the overall share of agriculture spending continued to fall in most countries.

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