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Relative Size of Federal Spending, 1940--2003

Table of Contents

Introduction
Graph
Table
Data source
References

Introduction

The graph and table below depict the size of federal spending, relative to the size of the economy.

Here,

"federal spending" refers to outlays;
the years are fiscal years;
federal spending is expressed as a percentage of the size of the economy, defined as the GDP (gross domestic product).

Federal outlays as a percentage of GDP, 1940--2003: Graph

Federal outlays as a percentage of GDP, 1940--2003: Table

Fiscal Year	Outlays as percent of GDP
1940	9.8
1941	12.0
1942	24.3
1943	43.6
1944	43.6
1945	41.9
1946	24.8
1947	14.8
1948	11.6
1949	14.3
1950	15.6
1951	14.2
1952	19.4
1953	20.4
1954	18.8
1955	17.3
1956	16.5
1957	17.0
1958	17.9
1959	18.8
1960	17.8
1961	18.4
1962	18.8
1963	18.6
1964	18.5
1965	17.2
1966	17.8
1967	19.4
1968	20.5
1969	19.4
1970	19.3
1971	19.5
1972	19.6
1973	18.7
1974	18.7
1975	21.3
1976	21.4
1977	20.7
1978	20.7
1979	20.1
1980	21.7
1981	22.2
1982	23.1
1983	23.5
1984	22.1
1985	22.8
1986	22.5
1987	21.6
1988	21.2
1989	21.2
1990	21.8
1991	22.3
1992	22.1
1993	21.4
1994	21.0
1995	20.7
1996	20.3
1997	19.6
1998	19.2
1999	18.6
2000	18.4
2001	18.6
2002	19.4
2003	19.9

Data source

The data were taken from reference [1].

References

[1] "Table 3.1: outlays by superfunction and function: 1940--2009," in Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005 (2004), Washington, pp. 45--52

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Page last updated on 2004 March 26