German state budget: budget structure, items of income and expenses, budget allocation by major items

§ Information on the federal budget of Germany

The German state budget is the country's financial plan for the year to come or for the next few years at once. The draft budget of the country is prepared by the German Ministry of Finance (the List of German Federal Ministries) then this draft is discussed by the Federal Government and, after its adoption, it is submitted to the Bundestag for consideration. After consideration and adoption of the draft budget by voting, the budget plan is submitted to the Bundesrat, the Federal Council. After the adoption of the budget by the Bundesrat and its signing by the President of Germany, the draft budget becomes the law of the country.

The state budget consists of the incomes and expenditures general plan, as well as of several plans for each Federal Ministry; it contains approximately 2500 pages.

The Bundestag also performs the function of controlling the federal budget; they analyze whether the Government adheres to the budget. In fulfilling this function, the Bundestag closely cooperates with the Federal Court of Auditors, aka the Federal Audit Office (in German: Bundesrechnungshof).

As of 2024, the German federal budget amounted to 445.7 billion euros.

Table 1. The federal budget of Germany
as of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Chart 1. Changes in the German federal budget volume from 2015 to 2024.

§ German state budget structure

The German federal state budget is a country's law containing more than 2,500 pages, its structure includes a budget summary distributed among the country's Federal Ministries and the supreme authorities in the country (including the state debt and general financial administration, i.e. tax revenues). Besides the budget summary, the state budget consists of many individual plans, classified or structured by functions and groups of incomes and expenditures. Table 2 below shows the budget incomes and expenditures distribution among the Federal Ministries and authorities. In the further sections below on this page, you can view the German budget structure by group and function.

In the detailed budget table, each line has its own digital code, which consists of the 4 components that follow:

• Einzelplan - Ministry, Department;
• Kapitel - chapter;
• Titel - heading (the group and serial number in the group);
• Funktion - function or purpose.

Table 2. The federal budget of Germany
as of 2024 by Ministry and Department (Einzelpläne)

§ Expenditures, the German budget allocation

You can view the state budget expenditures allocation among the Federal Ministries and Departments in Table 2, offered above on the page. Given that the country's 2024 budget amounted to 445.7 billion euros, on average, Germany's spending per 1 day was 1.2 billion euros, while Germany's spending per 1 month was 37.1 billion euros.

Table 3 below shows the country's budget expenditures by type of expenditure.

Table 3. The German budget expenditures
as of 2024 by type of expenditure

Chart 2 below shows the German budget allocation among the Ministries and Departments; the data for the chart are taken from Table 2, offered above on the page.

Chart 2. Pattern of expenditure of the 2024 German budget by Ministry

§ Revenues, the German budget income

You can view the sources of the German budget revenues by Federal Ministry and Department in Table 2 offered above on the page. Table 4 below shows the country's budget revenues by type of income, sorted by the income figures in ascending order.

Table 4. The German budget income
as of 2024 by type of income

Chart 3 below shows the German budget income by Ministry and Department; the data for the chart are taken from Table 2, offered above on the page. According to this chart, the vast majority of Germany's incomes are derived from taxes; in the budget, they are defined by the line “General Financial Administration” (in German: Allgemeine Finanzverwaltung).

Chart 3. Pattern of income of the 2024 German budget by Ministry

Germany budget: structure, income and expenses by year