Law in Charts · Business, tax and the economy
Tax revenue as a share of national income
How much of its national income does each government collect in tax?
% of gross domestic product, central government
- Lesotho35.4% 2024
- Namibia33.9% 2024
- Denmark33.4% 2024
- New Zealand29.5% 2024
- Luxembourg28.6% 2024
- Greece27.4% 2024
- Macao SAR, China27.4% 2024
- Sweden27.2% 2024
- United Kingdom26.9% 2024
- South Africa25.9% 2024
- Austria25.8% 2024
- Italy25.6% 2024
- Finland25.3% 2024
- Netherlands25.3% 2024
- Norway24.5% 2024
- Eswatini24.3% 2021
- Georgia24.3% 2024
- Malta24.1% 2024
- Samoa24.0% 2023
- Cyprus23.9% 2024
- Fiji23.9% 2024
- Serbia23.9% 2022
- Jamaica23.7% 2020
- Australia23.6% 2022
- Solomon Islands23.3% 2024
Source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tax revenue (% of GDP), via the World Bank. Data for 2018 to 2024. What it counts, how to cite it and the data
At a glance
- 143 countries or territories have a figure.
- The highest is Lesotho at 35.4% (2024) and the lowest is United Arab Emirates at 0.6% (2024).
- The middle value (the median) is 16.9%.
What it counts
Tax revenue collected by central government (compulsory transfers for public purposes, social security contributions excluded) as a share of gross domestic product, as compiled by the International Monetary Fund.
What it leaves out, and how far to trust a comparison
Many governments also collect taxes at regional and local level, or collect social security contributions, which are not counted here, so the figure understates what citizens pay in countries with strong regional governments or social insurance. It says nothing about fairness or how taxes are used.
Source
Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF): Tax revenue (% of GDP), via the World Bank, compiled in World Bank, World Development Indicators. Source licence: CC BY 4.0. Data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.
Cite this chart
Free to use in teaching, articles, reports and slides, with credit. Our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0; the source publishes the underlying data under its own licence, shown below.
Reference (APA style)
TheLawToKnow. (2026). Tax revenue as a share of national income [Chart]. Law in Charts. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/tax-revenue-share-of-gdp. Data: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tax revenue (% of GDP), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS (data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25).
Short credit for slides and websites
Chart: TheLawToKnow, Law in Charts (https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/tax-revenue-share-of-gdp). Data: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), via World Bank, World Development Indicators.
BibTeX
@misc{taxrevenueshareofgdp2026,
author = {{TheLawToKnow}},
title = {Tax revenue as a share of national income},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Law in Charts},
url = {https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/tax-revenue-share-of-gdp},
note = {Data: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tax revenue (% of GDP), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.}
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