Skip to content
Nations Inquiry — home

Data for 2016

Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 2016

2016, 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), 2016 covers 140 countries on 7 measures. Iceland is highest, at 49.845; Somalia is lowest, at 1.008. The middle country reads 20.275. Against 2015, 140 values changed (74 up, 66 down), the same countries are covered.

Download CSVCite this year
Share

Share this page

Tax Revenue (% of GDP) · Data for 2016

HighestIceland

49.845

LowestSomalia

1.008

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), 2016, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 140 countries · select a heading to sort

Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 2016: every country, as published by OECD.
IcelandISLNorthern Europe49.84516.96773.35160.28952016.996511.6540.585792
DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe45.79928.82020.08020.2808731.840414.7290.047799
FranceFRAWestern Europe45.39710.456916.61991.6312014.146812.0040.537321
SwedenSWENorthern Europe44.31916.06489.99074.6310341.053012.5300.049148
FinlandFINNorthern Europe44.09215.267212.80840.0000001.421314.5500.045893
BelgiumBELWestern Europe43.45415.439813.53200.0019373.487510.9930.000023
AustriaAUTWestern Europe42.24911.621114.69422.9242710.549012.2680.192227
ItalyITASouthern Europe42.17813.379512.66990.0000002.750212.1931.185144
CubaCUBCaribbean41.1488.77575.15472.6387100.000022.2272.352403
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe39.2228.962011.07090.0000003.148216.0410.000000
HungaryHUNEastern Europe38.9287.392313.13080.7445361.079716.4760.105092
NorwayNORNorthern Europe38.80714.780210.61790.0000001.137512.2720.000000
SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe38.1886.888615.55120.0494640.636015.0630.000000
CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe37.9345.814411.24430.0000001.114919.7610.000000
GermanyDEUWestern Europe37.78911.787613.93850.0000001.066110.9890.007261
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe37.77410.274314.42730.0000001.494611.4780.099143
LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe35.46113.242210.20410.0000003.33448.6200.060242
PortugalPRTSouthern Europe34.1299.82069.07500.0000001.282513.7710.180728
CzechiaCZEEastern Europe33.7077.471714.44560.0000000.483711.2950.011470
EstoniaESTNorthern Europe33.4487.336411.27620.0000000.265914.5700.000000
PolandPOLEastern Europe33.3276.658812.66070.2236381.372612.3620.049358
SpainESPSouthern Europe33.3189.360911.31730.0000002.549510.0760.014960
CanadaCANNorthern America33.25816.00804.88750.6754764.00837.6420.036534
SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe32.9276.954314.04730.0000000.426311.4990.000000
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe32.46611.43536.12370.0000004.077510.8300.000000

02In 2016

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Iceland49.845
  2. Denmark45.799
  3. France45.397
  4. Sweden44.319
  5. Finland44.092

Lowest

  1. Somalia1.008
  2. Chad3.684
  3. Nigeria5.303
  4. Timor-Leste6.362
  5. Sierra Leone6.814

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 20.275. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

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

    HighestDenmark28.8202

    Lowest2 share it

    Middle country: 6.2888

  • Social security contributions (% of GDP)

    HighestFrance16.6199

    Lowest20 share it

    Middle country: 2.2970

  • Taxes on payroll and workforce (% of GDP)

    HighestSweden4.631034

    LowestBhutan-0.048853

    Middle country: 0.000000

  • Taxes on property (% of GDP)

    HighestIceland16.9965

    Lowest11 share it

    Middle country: 0.4607

  • Taxes on goods and services (% of GDP)

    HighestCuba22.227

    LowestTimor-Leste0.303

    Middle country: 9.970

  • Other taxes (% of GDP)

    HighestBolivia2.512731

    LowestChile-0.067800

    Middle country: 0.011406

032015 → 2016

Since 2015

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 140values changed, of 140 in both
  • 74 · 66rose · fell
  • 0unchanged

Rose most

  • Iceland34.958 → 49.845+14.887
  • Cuba38.083 → 41.148+3.066
  • Greece37.158 → 39.222+2.064
  • Malta29.391 → 31.421+2.030
  • Grenada19.013 → 20.950+1.937

Fell most

04Caveats

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 2016.

  • 25 empty cells

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

05The 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 (2016). Tax Revenue (% of GDP), 2016 [data set], describing 2016. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/tax-to-gdp/2016

0635 held

Other years