Published on 23 March 2026

Expenditure

The Confederation operates primarily as a transfer budget: a large proportion of its receipts flows to the social security funds and the cantons. Its most important task area is social welfare.

2025 expenditure by task area

Shares in %

• Social welfare: 30 034 mn

  The largest federal task area is social welfare, accounting for just over a third of expenditure (34.3%). 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.

• Finances and taxes: 14 168 mn

  Finances and taxes accounted for 16.2% of expenditure. Expenditure growth in this area can be influenced only in the long term. Third parties' 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: 11 676 mn

  Transportation accounted for 13.3% of expenditure. It includes expenditure on rail and public transportation (69%), road transportation (30%) and aviation (2%). Transportation expenditure is financed primarily by earmarked tax receipts and is thus largely restricted. Most of these receipts are channeled into the railway infrastructure fund (RIF) and the motorway and urban transportation fund, which cover expenditure associated with the operation, maintenance and extension of the transportation infrastructure.

• Education and research: 8 868 mn

  The education and research task area accounted for 10.1% of expenditure, and around 82% of it is governed by the dispatch on the federal education, research and innovation policy for 2025 to 2028 (2025-2028 ERI dispatch). With effect from January 1, 2025, Swiss researchers can once again take part in EU research programs.

• Security: 7 184 mn

  Security accounted for 8.2% of expenditure. More than 80% of security expenditure was attributable to military national defense, which grew by 269 million (+4.7%) in 2025, due primarily to higher spending on armaments. Expenditure in this task area rose by 4.3% in 2025 (+295 mn).

• Agriculture and food: 3 674 mn

  Approximately 4.2% of federal expenditure went to the agriculture and food task area, which is steered by three expenditure ceilings: means of production, production and sales, and direct payments. Direct payments accounted for just over three quarters of expenditure in this task area (2.8 bn).

• International relations: 3 635 mn

  International relations accounted for 4.2% of expenditure. Three quarters concerned development cooperation. Most of the remainder was attributable to political relations, i.e. Switzerland's diplomatic and consular representations, and contributions to international organizations.

• Other task areas: 8 332 mn

  The five remaining task areas (institutional and financial conditions, culture and leisure, health, protection of the environment and spatial planning, economic relations) accounted for 9.5% of federal expenditure.

Development of 2025 expenditure

In CHF bn

Coming in at 87.6 billion in 2025, expenditure grew by 3.9%, or 3.3 billion, year on year. The total included expenditure of 0.7 billion for people from Ukraine seeking protection, requested as extraordinary payment requirements, as well as the one-time capital contribution of 850 million to SBB. Ordinary expenditure grew by 2.9 billion, or 3.5%, in 2025, which was twice the pace of nominal GDP growth (+1.7%).

The growth in the social welfare task area (+2.0%, or +0.6 bn) was driven primarily by additional expenditure on both AHV (+0.9 bn) and health insurance (+0.2 bn), while expenditure on unemployment insurance fell by 0.6 billion (temporary suspension of the federal contribution). The finances and taxes task area likewise recorded strong expenditure growth (+6.3%, or +0.9 bn). This was attributable mainly to the rise in third parties' shares of federal receipts (especially direct federal tax and withholding tax). The considerable increase in the transportation task area (+9.1%, or +1.0 bn) was due to the aforementioned capital contribution to SBB. The education and research task area likewise experienced particularly strong growth (+5.9%, or +0.5 bn), owing largely to the double burden of the contribution for participation in EU research programs (Horizon) and the ongoing transitional measures for Swiss researchers. In addition, expenditure in the security task area rose by 4.3%, or 0.3 billion.

Data

Detailed data for longer periods are available under the following links:

• data portal
• Open Government Data