How much does Europe spend on justice?

Like with all public sector spending, justice budgets across Europe have had to face significant economic hardship in recent years caused by global factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The financial crunch has exacerbated court backlogs and staff shortages in many countries.

New statistics from the Council of Europe's European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), which also included Morocco and Israel and was based on information from 2022, show that the continent only spends about 0.31% of its GDP on justice, amounting to €85.40 per inhabitant per year on average.

The commission found that wealthier countries like Switzerland, Monaco and Luxembourg generally allocate a higher budget to the justice system, sometimes exceeding €200 per inhabitant.

But less wealthy countries such as Montenegro, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, devote a higher percentage of their GDP to justice.

The CEPEJ said this reflects a greater effort concerning their economic resources. 

It warned that the figures shouldn't be seen as a ranking, but rather a comparison of countries that allows trends to be identified.

Most of the justice budget across Europe is spent on the courts, about two-thirds, with a quarter going to public prosecution and 11% on legal aid.

While the amount spent on the former two has gone up by 11.74% and 18.75% respectively, there's been a 16% decrease in legal aid spending since 2020, according to the Council of Europe.

"Wealthier countries (with a GDP per inhabitant of over €20,000) generally invest more in legal aid, with an average of 24% of the judicial budget allocated to legal aid, compared with just 3% in less wealthy countries," the CEPEJ said.

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