FAOSTAT releases today the latest update of the government expenditures in agriculture, for the period 2001–2024.

Since 2012, FAO collects 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 a global pandemic, natural disasters or increasing inflation. 

Main findings:

• 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.
• Reflecting the rise in the real value of government expenditure, spending on agriculture also grew over time. Its overall share in the total expenditure in 2024 (1.97 percent) was stable compared with 2023.
• Asia maintained the highest percentage of government expenditure allocated to agriculture (4.85 percent in 2024), with Central Asia and Southern Asia driving the increase.
• In 2023–2024, the countries with the highest share of agriculture in government expenditure were Bhutan (9.6 percent), Bangladesh (8.6 percent), Malawi (8.6 percent), the Central African Republic (7.4 percent) and Eswatini (7.0 percent).