Cyprus spends less on social protection than EU

Cyprus spent less on social protection than the EU average in 2007, according to a newly published report entitled Social Protection in Cyprus 2007.
Social Protection expenditure includes old age, sickness, disability, unemployment. housing and other categories of benefits.
In 2007 social protection expenditure amounted to EUR 2,880.4 mln (EUR 2.9 bln) compared with EUR 2.650.9 mln in 2006, recording an increase of 8.7%.
This was equivalent to 18.1% of GDP, compared with an EU27 average of 26.2%.
It is possible that the reason for lower expenditure in Cyprus is the comparatively lower unemployment rate.
Nevertheless, old age (41%) and sickness (25%) benefits in Cyprus were the major components of all social benefits.
The overwhelming majority of the benefits originated from public sources, which accounted for 81.3% of the total.