General government final consumption refers to government expenditure on goods and services used for the direct satisfaction of individual or collective needs.
It comprises two components: collective consumption, which includes expenditures on services that benefit society as a whole or large groups (such as defence, public order, justice); and individual consumption, which includes expenditures made by government on behalf of individual households (such as health care, housing, education). These expenditures are classified according to their function and are recorded as final consumption in national accounts. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).
The indicator is measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).
