Top 100 Countries by Tax-to-GDP Ratio (%), 2025
The tax-to-GDP ratio (tax revenue as a share of GDP) is a compact way to compare how much revenue governments raise from taxes relative to the size of the economy. For a 2025 snapshot, this page uses the latest available observations for each country and keeps the original data year in the table for transparency.
Important: cross-country comparability depends on the definition of “tax revenue” in the source series. Some statistical systems record social contributions separately, and commodity/resource revenues can sit outside taxes.
Top 10 countries with the highest tax-to-GDP ratios
High ratios usually reflect broader tax bases, stronger compliance, and larger public sectors. Outliers can also occur in very small economies where GDP and tax receipts are volatile.
Very small GDP bases can make the ratio jump. High readings may reflect one-off receipts and narrow denominators.
A broad base and strong compliance typically sustain higher ratios; Norway’s figure is also shaped by the chosen definition of tax revenue.
Higher ratios in smaller economies often come from VAT and trade-related taxes relative to GDP.
In high-income welfare states, income and consumption taxes are large; this World Bank indicator is not identical to OECD tax-to-GDP (coverage differs).
A relatively broad consumption tax and income tax base supports higher collection even with simpler structures.
High ratios usually signal stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, but comparability depends on what’s counted as tax revenue.
High ratios usually signal stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, but comparability depends on what’s counted as tax revenue.
High ratios usually signal stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, but comparability depends on what’s counted as tax revenue.
High ratios usually signal stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, but comparability depends on what’s counted as tax revenue.
High ratios usually signal stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, but comparability depends on what’s counted as tax revenue.
Top 10 table
| Rank | Country | Tax-to-GDP | Data year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nauru | 44.40% | 2020 |
| 2 | Norway | 31.27% | 2022 |
| 3 | Lesotho | 30.44% | 2022 |
| 4 | Denmark | 30.42% | 2022 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 29.93% | 2022 |
| 6 | Greece | 27.64% | 2022 |
| 7 | Sweden | 27.60% | 2022 |
| 8 | United Kingdom | 27.32% | 2023 |
| 9 | Namibia | 27.17% | 2022 |
| 10 | Austria | 26.19% | 2022 |
Top 20 chart
Full Top 100: tax revenue as a share of GDP (2025 snapshot)
This Top 100 ranking is sorted from the highest to the lowest tax-to-GDP ratio. Each row preserves the original data year used in the source series. Use the search box to quickly find a country, and the sort selector to reorder the table without reloading the page.
Top 100 table
Indicator: tax revenue as a percent of GDP. Values are rounded to two decimals. Search and sorting work entirely on the embedded dataset (no external calls).
| Rank | Country | Tax-to-GDP | Data year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nauru | 44.40% | 2020 |
| 2 | Norway | 31.27% | 2022 |
| 3 | Lesotho | 30.44% | 2022 |
| 4 | Denmark | 30.42% | 2022 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 29.93% | 2022 |
| 6 | Greece | 27.64% | 2022 |
| 7 | Sweden | 27.60% | 2022 |
| 8 | United Kingdom | 27.32% | 2023 |
| 9 | Namibia | 27.17% | 2022 |
| 10 | Austria | 26.19% | 2022 |
| 11 | Seychelles | 26.18% | 2020 |
| 12 | South Africa | 26.01% | 2022 |
| 13 | Luxembourg | 25.97% | 2022 |
| 14 | Jamaica | 25.71% | 2020 |
| 15 | Samoa | 25.02% | 2021 |
| 16 | Israel | 25.01% | 2022 |
| 17 | Barbados | 24.91% | 2016 |
| 18 | Eswatini | 24.70% | 2021 |
| 19 | Italy | 24.50% | 2022 |
| 20 | France | 24.47% | 2022 |
| 21 | Latvia | 24.23% | 2022 |
| 22 | Serbia | 23.90% | 2022 |
| 23 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 23.80% | 2017 |
| 24 | Australia | 23.63% | 2022 |
| 25 | Iceland | 23.44% | 2023 |
| 26 | Hungary | 23.43% | 2022 |
| 27 | Cyprus | 23.33% | 2022 |
| 28 | Netherlands | 23.26% | 2022 |
| 29 | Georgia | 22.90% | 2022 |
| 30 | Portugal | 22.89% | 2022 |
| 31 | Belgium | 22.71% | 2022 |
| 32 | Mozambique | 22.66% | 2022 |
| 33 | Malta | 22.34% | 2022 |
| 34 | Morocco | 22.11% | 2022 |
| 35 | Armenia | 21.83% | 2022 |
| 36 | Bulgaria | 21.73% | 2022 |
| 37 | Croatia | 21.65% | 2022 |
| 38 | Timor-Leste | 21.64% | 2022 |
| 39 | Palestine | 21.47% | 2021 |
| 40 | Belize | 21.34% | 2017 |
| 41 | Kyrgyzstan | 21.28% | 2023 |
| 42 | Chile | 21.27% | 2022 |
| 43 | Finland | 21.20% | 2022 |
| 44 | Lithuania | 21.10% | 2022 |
| 45 | Tonga | 20.79% | 2020 |
| 46 | Estonia | 20.76% | 2022 |
| 47 | Solomon Islands | 20.67% | 2022 |
| 48 | El Salvador | 20.61% | 2023 |
| 49 | Tunisia | 20.10% | 2012 |
| 50 | Nicaragua | 19.84% | 2022 |
| 51 | Mauritius | 19.79% | 2023 |
| 52 | Botswana | 19.65% | 2022 |
| 53 | Maldives | 19.45% | 2021 |
| 54 | Senegal | 19.44% | 2023 |
| 55 | Slovakia | 19.44% | 2022 |
| 56 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 19.11% | 2023 |
| 57 | Moldova | 18.94% | 2022 |
| 58 | Uruguay | 18.51% | 2020 |
| 59 | South Korea | 18.44% | 2022 |
| 60 | Cape Verde | 18.39% | 2020 |
| 61 | Kiribati | 18.31% | 2023 |
| 62 | Saint Lucia | 18.22% | 2017 |
| 63 | Gambia | 18.20% | 1990 |
| 64 | Slovenia | 18.18% | 2022 |
| 65 | Albania | 18.10% | 2021 |
| 66 | Palau | 18.08% | 2020 |
| 67 | San Marino | 17.81% | 2022 |
| 68 | Burkina Faso | 17.67% | 2022 |
| 69 | Nepal | 17.49% | 2021 |
| 70 | Jordan | 17.47% | 2022 |
| 71 | North Macedonia | 17.39% | 2021 |
| 72 | Marshall Islands | 17.16% | 2020 |
| 73 | Poland | 17.12% | 2022 |
| 74 | Bolivia | 17.00% | 2007 |
| 75 | Mongolia | 16.91% | 2021 |
| 76 | Ireland | 16.79% | 2022 |
| 77 | Zambia | 16.78% | 2021 |
| 78 | Macau | 16.70% | 2022 |
| 79 | Ukraine | 16.69% | 2022 |
| 80 | Trinidad and Tobago | 16.55% | 2019 |
| 81 | Bahamas | 16.43% | 2022 |
| 82 | Romania | 16.16% | 2022 |
| 83 | Turkey | 16.09% | 2022 |
| 84 | Peru | 15.92% | 2021 |
| 85 | Vanuatu | 15.88% | 2021 |
| 86 | Fiji | 15.87% | 2021 |
| 87 | Burundi | 15.64% | 2021 |
| 88 | Spain | 15.50% | 2022 |
| 89 | Thailand | 15.45% | 2023 |
| 90 | Azerbaijan | 15.45% | 2022 |
| 91 | Colombia | 15.28% | 2022 |
| 92 | Rwanda | 15.07% | 2020 |
| 93 | Honduras | 15.07% | 2020 |
| 94 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 15.04% | 2020 |
| 95 | Papua New Guinea | 14.77% | 2022 |
| 96 | Costa Rica | 14.35% | 2022 |
| 97 | Mexico | 14.27% | 2023 |
| 98 | Togo | 14.19% | 2022 |
| 99 | Mali | 14.16% | 2020 |
| 100 | Brazil | 14.15% | 2023 |
Rank curve: how quickly the ratio declines across the Top 100
The curve below plots the tax-to-GDP ratio against rank. Steeper drops usually mean a handful of countries sit far above the rest; flatter sections indicate more clustered outcomes.
How to interpret tax-to-GDP in 2025
Tax-to-GDP is often used as a shorthand for fiscal capacity: the ability of a state to finance public services using domestic revenues. But it is not a scoreboard of good vs bad. A high ratio can reflect strong institutions and broad public services, while a low ratio can come from a small tax base, weak compliance, or policy choices that shift financing outside the tax system.
Practical takeaways for readers
Use tax-to-GDP as a starting point, then ask three follow-up questions:
- Is the ratio high because of a broad base and compliance, or because GDP is unusually small or volatile?
- What is the mix: VAT and excises vs personal income tax vs corporate tax?
- Are social security contributions counted as taxes in the dataset you are comparing?
For policy and research comparisons, it is safer to combine tax-to-GDP with the structure of revenues, the quality of spending, and the stability of the macro base (GDP volatility, commodity cycles, informality).
Revenue mix: why two countries can share the same ratio but feel very different
Two countries can collect 20% of GDP in taxes and still have very different everyday tax pressure depending on how revenue is raised. A VAT-heavy system is visible in consumer prices and tends to be broad, while income taxes concentrate more on formal employment and higher earners. Corporate tax can be volatile and sensitive to business cycles, commodity prices, and profit shifting.
- VAT share: broad base and easier administration, but regressive without compensating transfers.
- Personal income tax: depends on formal employment, withholding systems, and enforcement.
- Corporate tax: concentrated and volatile; can spike in booms and fall with incentives.
- Social contributions: often finance pensions/health; may be outside tax revenue in some series.
OECD vs non-OECD: why levels are not always directly comparable
OECD tax-to-GDP statistics are designed for within-OECD comparability and often include social security contributions as part of total tax revenues. By contrast, the World Bank tax revenue indicator is narrower in many cases. That means an OECD country can look lower in a World Bank-based ranking than in an OECD table even when it has a large welfare state.
Limitations you should keep in mind
- Years differ across countries (the table shows the data year). Treat this as a 2025 snapshot, not a single-year census.
- Small economies can be outliers because GDP and receipts can change sharply year to year.
- Resource-related public revenues may appear as non-tax revenues or royalties depending on accounting practice.
Sources
Dataset values and years are taken from the tax-to-GDP compilation page, which references the World Bank tax revenue series. For methodological cross-checks and broader definitions, OECD revenue statistics and the World Bank indicator metadata are useful.
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Top 100 Countries by Tax-to-GDP Ratio (%), 2025 snapshot — includes CSV/XLSX tables and PNG charts.
