Central government units, expenditure (discontinued), 2008

In the StatRes system, the value of the government's production of goods and services is labelled own production , and is measured as the sum of wage costs and purchased goods and services. In 2008, own production constituted 28 per cent of total expenditure in central government. Approximately two thirds of total expenditure was made up of transfers to other sectors, mainly social benefits to households, grants to the local government sector and foreign economic aid to other countries and international organisations.

In addition to own production and transfers, central government has expenditure in connection with the acquisition of fixed assets such as buildings, roads and railways. In StatRes this is labelled investments . Investments have increased sharply in recent years, but still only constitute less than 5 per cent of total expenditure. Financial investments are not included in the figures.

Read more about activities and services of the largest government units on the StatRes main page.

More than 50 per cent to health and social services

Approximately NOK 450 billion, or 56 per cent, of total expenditure in central government is related to health and social services. The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service and the Specialist Health Service are the principal government units in this category. The largest portion of the expenditure is cash benefits from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service to households. These benefits totalled almost NOK 300 billion in 2008, out of which one third was old-age pensions. The Specialist Health Service had expenditure in excess of NOK 100 billion in 2008. This includes the acquisition of fixed assets such as buildings and medical equipment.

Financial affairs, external affairs and administration had expenditure of about NOK 170 billion in 2008. More than NOK 100 billion of this amount was made up of grants to the local government sector. Interest payments and foreign economic aid are also recorded in this category.

The remaining parts of central government are divided into three groups. Each of these groups had expenditure between NOK 55 and 65 billion. The largest units in the three groups were the Norwegian Armed Forces , Universities and colleges and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration respectively.

208 700 man-years in central government

Total employment, measured as contracted man-years adjusted for long-term leave, totalled 208 700 in central government in 2008. A total of 83 000 of these, or approximately 40 per cent, were employed in the Specialist Health Service. Employment in universities and colleges and the Norwegian Armed Forces was 29 000 and 16 000 man-years respectively. The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service and Police and prosecution units employed 12 000 each. Input measured in NOK and man-years for central government units is available in Statbank.

Total expenditure up 14 per cent from 2006 to 2008

In addition to 2008, this release covers 2006 and 2007. Own production in central government increased by 14 per cent in this three-year period, mainly due to higher wage costs. This is slightly lower than the growth in GDP Mainland Norway . Total expenditure also increased by about 14 per cent in the same period, partly due to a sharp increase in investments. However, the investment level is highly influenced by the recording of large acquisitions, such as a new hospital.