Historical Government Spending as Percent of GDP
Notes:
The chart above illustrates government spending as a percent of gross domestic product over time. Since 1992, this spending as a percent of GDP has been decreasing. During the early 1980’s, spending as a percent of GDP increased to nearly 24.5% of GDP as military spending under the Reagan Administration increased to win the Cold War with the former Soviet Union. Spending as a percent of GDP then decreased from 1985 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November, 1989 marking the end of the Cold War.
Spending as a percent of GDP then increased from 1990 to 1992 in response to the Persian Gulf War and a mild recession in 1990-91.