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Data for 1990

Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 1990

1990, as OECD’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Tax revenue as a share of GDP is how much of a country’s economy its governments collect in taxes — national, regional and local, social security contributions included. It is the OECD’s standard measure of a state’s tax take, compiled under one classification of taxes so that a country in Africa, Latin America or Asia can be read against an OECD member.

Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 1990 covers 56 countries on 7 measures. Sweden is highest, at 48.85; Bhutan is lowest, at 4.77. The middle country reads 22.48.

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Tax Revenue (% of GDP) · Data for 1990

HighestSweden

48.85

LowestBhutan

4.77

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 1990, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 56 countries · select a heading to sort

Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 1990: every country, as published by OECD.
SwedenSWENorthern Europe48.8520.34113.3031.20741.7207612.19390.0817
DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe44.2727.0410.0120.29151.8987215.02870.0000
FinlandFINNorthern Europe42.9316.84511.0070.00001.0509713.97410.0550
FranceFRAWestern Europe41.556.67118.3090.79062.6278211.80441.3468
BelgiumBELWestern Europe41.3915.27513.7490.00001.5749910.79380.0000
NorwayNORNorthern Europe40.4514.17510.5840.00001.1851514.50230.0015
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe39.6412.78914.8340.00001.4487310.47180.0965
AustriaAUTWestern Europe39.4810.07012.9642.37891.0752212.47110.5210
ItalyITASouthern Europe36.1913.20011.9100.12150.8166010.13890.0000
New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand36.1721.5510.0000.00002.4750212.13770.0013
CanadaCANNorthern America35.0717.0324.2600.78993.514669.06300.4130
GermanyDEUWestern Europe34.8011.27013.0440.00001.172549.30430.0122
LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe34.6813.9459.5520.00002.921048.19740.0633
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe32.8712.9255.5970.00002.6861710.19701.4646
IrelandIRLNorthern Europe32.3912.3174.5680.41941.5042913.58020.0000
CubaCUBCaribbean31.890.0713.5170.00000.0000027.70710.5956
SpainESPSouthern Europe31.569.67011.1800.00001.740848.96200.0066
IcelandISLNorthern Europe29.458.7410.9241.04332.4830815.10581.1574
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand28.0516.0210.0001.71312.510537.80490.0000
BrazilBRASouth America27.845.0936.7690.43671.6462613.54420.3479
JapanJPNEastern Asia27.6913.9007.3250.00002.602263.79170.0710
PortugalPRTSouthern Europe26.496.7987.1920.00000.7183611.71100.0660
United StatesUSANorthern America26.0311.7686.6570.00003.058934.54960.0000
KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia25.627.449—0.00000.0560713.72904.3839
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe25.555.0837.7180.17581.1852411.37760.0062

02In 1990

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

  1. Sweden48.85
  2. Denmark44.27
  3. Finland42.93
  4. France41.55
  5. Belgium41.39

Lowest

  1. Bhutan4.77
  2. Bolivia6.51
  3. Ecuador7.21
  4. Guatemala7.87
  5. Dominican Republic8.30

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 22.48. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Taxes on income, profits and capital gains (% of GDP)

    HighestDenmark27.041

    LowestBahamas0.000

    Middle country: 6.331

  • Social security contributions (% of GDP)

    HighestFrance18.309

    Lowest6 share it

    Middle country: 2.857

  • Taxes on payroll and workforce (% of GDP)

    HighestAustria2.3789

    Lowest38 share it

    Middle country: 0.0000

  • Taxes on property (% of GDP)

    HighestBarbados3.53494

    Lowest2 share it

    Middle country: 1.12549

  • Taxes on goods and services (% of GDP)

    HighestCuba27.7071

    LowestVenezuela2.3552

    Middle country: 9.0688

  • Other taxes (% of GDP)

    HighestKyrgyzstan4.3839

    LowestChile-0.2204

    Middle country: 0.0685

03Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2026 release

    Every year in this series comes from OECD’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1990.

  • 3 empty cells

    An empty cell means the publisher gave no figure. It is never a zero.

04The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: OECD Terms and Conditions — data clause · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

OECD (1990). Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 1990 [data set], describing 1990. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/tax-to-gdp/1990

0535 held

Other years