Shares in %
2024 expenditure by task area
Social welfare: 29 433 mn
Finances and taxes: 13 323 mn
Transportation: 10 704 mn
Education and research: 8 371 mn
Security: 6 889 mn
Agriculture and food: 3 677 mn
International relations: 3 670 mn
Other tasks areas: 8 229 mn
The largest federal task area is social welfare, which accounted for just over a third of expenditure (34.9%). This expenditure is bound by law and therefore barely controllable in the medium term. Half of the expenditure goes to old-age and survivors' insurance (AHV). Other areas include federal contributions to disability insurance (IV), individual premium reductions and AHV and IV supplementary benefits, as well as migration expenditure. Expenditure growth depends largely on demographic developments, as well as inflation and salary trends. Due to the aging of the population, this expenditure is growing rapidly.
Finances and taxes accounted for 15.8% of expenditure. Expenditure growth in this area can be influenced only in the long term. The shares of federal receipts, for example, are set out in the Constitution and depend directly on the amount of receipts. Interest expenditure is determined by debt and the development of interest rates. Finally, national fiscal equalization expenditure is also regulated by law. This is intended to ensure that each canton has sufficient financial resources to perform its tasks.
Transportation accounted for 12.7% of expenditure. It includes expenditure on rail and public transportation (68%), road transportation (30%) and aviation (2%). Transportation expenditure is financed primarily by earmarked tax receipts and is thus largely restricted. Most of this is channeled into the railway infrastructure fund (RIF) and the motorway and urban transportation fund, through which the operation, maintenance and extension of the transportation infrastructure are financed.
The education and research task area accounted for 9.9% of expenditure, and around 87% of it is steered by the payment frameworks and guarantee credits requested with the 2021-2024 ERI dispatch (FG 2020 3681). Switzerland is not currently associated with EU research programs, which is why comprehensive transitional measures are planned. Association to the Horizon package as soon as possible remains the goal.
Security accounts for 8.2% of expenditure. More than 80% of security expenditure was attributable to military national defense. Security expenditure fell slightly in 2024 (-0.1 bn). This was due to the increase in the provision for the clearance of the Mitholz ammunition depot and the procurement of a state aircraft in 2023, as well as the transfer of Armed Forces IT services to the FOITT as of 2024. Adjusted for these effects, expenditure was up by 258 million, or 3.7%.
Agriculture and food accounted for around 4.4% of expenditure, with roughly three quarters of this (2.8 bn) used for direct payments. The agriculture and food task area is steered via three payment frameworks: means of production, production and sales, and direct payments. Parliament set the expenditure ceiling for 2022 to 2025 as follows: 0.6 billion for means of production, 2.2 billion for production and sales and 11.2 billion for direct payments.
International relations accounted for 4.4% of recognized expenditure. Over three quarters concerned development assistance. Most of the remainder was attributable to political relations, i.e. Swiss diplomatic and consular representations, and expenditure for international organizations.
The five remaining task areas (institutional and financial conditions, culture and leisure, health, protection of the environment and spatial planning, economic relations) accounted for 9.8% of expenditure.
Development of 2024 expenditure
in CHF bn and % of GDP
Note: data for 2025 to 2028 in accordance with 2025 federal decree with integrated task and financial plan for 2026 to 2028
Expenditure rose by 4.0% year on year. As nominal GDP grew by 2.2%, the Confederation's expenditure ratio edged up from 10.1% to 10.2% of GDP. The expenditure ratio is a rough indicator of the extent of Confederation's activities relative to the overall economy.
Development of selected 2024 expenditure items by task area
in CHF mn and %
In 2024, total expenditure amounted to 84.3 billion, representing an increase of 4% (+3.3 bn) on the previous year. For the fifth year in succession, the Confederation incurred billions in extraordinary expenditure. Extraordinary expenditure was once again recognized for people from Ukraine seeking protection (global lump sum to the cantons), and amounted to 1.4 billion (2023: 1.1 bn). The reversal of excessive provisions for COVID-19 testing costs led to a reduction in extraordinary expenditure (‑0.2 bn).
Ordinary expenditure grew by 3.2 billion, or 4%, in 2024, and thus outstripped nominal GDP growth (+2.2%). The social welfare task area was the biggest driver of expenditure growth. The rise was due primarily to much higher AHV expenditure (+1.4 bn), particularly as a result of the 0.4 percentage point increase in value added tax that was decided as part of the AHV 21 reform and which is transferred to the insurance fund. In addition, health insurance (+0.3 bn) and disability insurance (+0.1 bn) expenditure was higher. The finances and taxes task area likewise experienced vigorous growth, in particular because expenditure concerning the cantons' shares of federal receipts rose considerably (+0.5 bn) due to the surge in receipts. Furthermore, the contributions to special financing and fiscal equalization increased. Another growth hotspot was the education and research task area, where the increase in expenditure was largely due to contributions for the transitional measures that were decided because of Switzerland's non-association to the Horizon package.
Data
Detailed data for longer periods are available under the following links:
- Link data portal
- Link Open Government Data
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Last modification 25.03.2025