Bulgaria Spent 1.4% of GDP on Defence in 2014, Above EU-28 Average

Defence expenditure amounted to 1.3% of GDP for the EU-28 and 1.2% of GDP for the 19 countries of the euro area in 2014, according to new data from the European Union's statistical office (Eurostat)

For Bulgaria, defence expenditure was 1.4% of GDP in 2014, comprising 1.2% allocated to military defence and 0.1% spent on civil defence. Finland and Cyprus also reported total defence spending of 1.4% of GDP each for 2014.

Calculated as percentage of total government spending, however, expenditure on defence in Bulgaria was above the EU-28 average in 2014. Spending on defence formed 2.8% of total government expenditure at the level of EU-28 and 2.4% for the euro area. For Bulgaria, defence spending amounted to 3.3% of total government spending.

The highest levels of total expenditure on defence in the EU and EFTA countries were found in Greece (2.7 % of GDP), followed by the UK (2.2%), Estonia (1.8%) and France (1.7%). At the bottom end were Luxembourg (0.3% of GDP) and Ireland (0.4% of GDP) as well as Austria and Hungary (both 0.6% of GDP).

The lion's share of defence expenditure wentto military defence (1.2% of GDP) for the EU-28 in 2014, Eurostat data showed. Average spending on civil defence in that group of countries amounted to less than 0.05% of GDP with  the notable exception of Romania (0.8% of GDP) .

At the level of the EU-28, 48% of total defence expenditure was devoted to payments to employees in the form of  wages and social contributions, Eurostat said.