Public social welfare expenditures, fiscal year 1980.

In fiscal year 1984, public social welfare expenditures’ reached $672.0 billion, an increase of 4.7 percent over the amount spent by Federal, State, and local governments in 1983. Measured in constant (1984) dollars, the increase was only 0.5 percent more than the previous year’s amount and was the lowest real increase since 1978-79. Public welfare spending represented 18.2 percent of the gross national product (GNP)-a decrease of nearly one percentage point from the previous year. The social welfare expenditure series was developed by the Social Security Administration in 1951 to provide a basis for measuring changes in the share of the total national output devoted to social welfare purposes. It measures direct expenditures from public funds or under public programs; indirect welfare benefits therefore are not included. The data encompass expenditures for the major public programs of income maintenance, health, education, housing, veterans’ programs, and other welfare services directed specifically toward promoting the economic and social well-being of individuals and families. In general, the series excludes community services such as urban transportation, water and sewer works, recreational facilities, and other government activities that indirectly promote the welfare of individuals, even though such activities may have important social welfare aspects or consequences. The data in this series are on a fiscal-year basis and include expenditures from trust funds as well as from general revenues. The expenditures in the basic series are grouped on the basis of statutory programs and administrative structure. The data are presented in sufficient detail to permit regrouping on a functional basis.