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

This page contains information on the German federal budget, the critical income and expenditure items, the country's budget structure shown numerically as of 2024.


§ 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

Year Amount, euros Difference YoY, euros
2015 year299'100'000'000-
2016 year316'900'000'00017'800'000'000
2017 year329'100'000'00012'200'000'000
2018 year343'600'000'00014'500'000'000
2019 year356'400'000'00012'800'000'000
2020 year362'000'000'0005'600'000'000
2021 year498'620'000'000136'620'000'000
2022 year495'791'475'000-2'828'525'000
2023 year476'290'763'000-19'500'712'000
2024 year445'687'863'000-30'602'900'000

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:

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

Budget item Income,
million euros
Expenditure
million euros and as %
Federal President and the Office of the Federal President
Bundespräsident und Bundespräsidialamt
0.10 47.36 0.01%
Bundestag, the German Federal Parliament
Deutscher Bundestag
2.20 1'205.68 0.27%
Bundesrat , the Federal Council of Germany
Bundesrat
0.05 38.95 0.01%
Federal Government and the Chancellor of Germany
Bundeskanzler und Bundeskanzleramt
568.70 3'709.54 0.83%
Foreign Office
Auswärtiges Amt
67.82 6'155.69 1.38%
Ministry of the Interior and Community
Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat
719.13 12'902.61 2.89%
Ministry of Justice
Bundesministerium der Justiz
666.08 1'025.00 0.23%
Ministry of Finance
Bundesministerium der Finanzen
242.25 9'699.79 2.18%
Ministry of Economics and Climate Action
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz
745.73 10'995.25 2.47%
Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft
101.57 6'830.00 1.53%
Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs
Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales
1'842.05 171'673.50 38.52%
Ministry for Digital and Transport
Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr
15'804.38 38'701.28 8.68%
Ministry of Defense
Bundesministerium der Verteidigung
231.00 51'800.00 11.62%
Ministry for Health
Bundesministerium für Gesundheit
104.32 16'220.50 3.64%
Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz
1'059.57 2'400.00 0.54%
Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend
259.04 13'351.44 3.00%
Constitutional Court of Germany
Bundesverfassungsgericht
0.04 41.31 0.01%
Federal Court of Auditors, aka the Federal Audit Office
Bundesrechnungshof
0.38 191.81 0.04%
Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit
0.09 45.40 0.01%
Independent Control Council
Unabhängiger Kontrollrat
0.00 11.00 0.00%
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung
765.10 11'515.50 2.58%
Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building
Bundesministerium für Wohnen, Stadtentwicklung und Bauwesen
242.72 6'962.05 1.56%
Ministry of Education and Research
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
51.25 20'300.14 4.55%
State debt
Bundesschuld
18'719.00 38'930.77 8.73%
General Financial Administration
Allgemeine Finanzverwaltung
403'495.28 20'933.29 4.70%
TOTAL: 445'687.86 445'687.86 100.00%

§ 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

Type of expenditure Expenditure
million euros
As % of the budget amount
Non-personnel administrative expenditure
Sächliche Verwaltungsausgaben
13'533.67 3.04 %
Allocations and grants (excluding investments)
Zuweisungen und Zuschüsse (ohne Investitionen)
80'375.73 18.03 %
Special-purpose financing expenditures
Besondere Finanzierungsausgaben
-10'249.11 -2.30 %
Miscellaneous
279'291.74 62.67 %
Personnel expenditure
Personalausgaben
10'318.36 2.32 %
Expenditure on investments
Ausgaben für Investitionen
23'421.77 5.26 %
Military procurements, investments, etc.
Militärische Beschaffungen, Anlagen usw.
12'219.48 2.74 %
Servicing (redemption) of the national debt
Schuldendienst
36'776.21 8.25 %
TOTAL: 445'687.86 100.00 %

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

Type of income Income
million euros
As % of the budget amount
The EU own resources
EU-Eigenmittel
-35'320.00 -7.92 %
Taxes, tax equivalent payments and other contributions
Steuern und steuerähnliche Abgaben
118.00 0.03 %
Administrative income
Verwaltungseinnahmen
9'937.54 2.23 %
Miscellaneous
14'373.69 3.23 %
Miscellaneous income
Übrige Einnahmen
43'926.63 9.86 %
Federal taxes
Bundessteuern
81'912.00 18.38 %
Community taxes and business tax levy; taxes allocated among the Federation,federated states and minicipalities
Gemeinschaftsteuern und Gewerbesteuerumlage
330'740.00 74.21 %
TOTAL: 445'687.86 100.00 %

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

RU-GELD.DE Team

Last updated:

Germany budget: structure, income and expenses by year

Germany budget: structure, income and expenses by year



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