Paper Title
SOCIAL SPENDING AND STRUCTURE OF POPULATION – EVIDENCE FROM OECD AND EU COUNTRIES

Abstract
Abstract - Social spending is an important element of general government spending in many countries. That type of spending may be targeted at vulnerable entities, including low-income households, the elderly, or the unemployed. It denotes that social spending can be determined, among others, by the level of economic activity or structure of the population. The presented study analyses social spending in OECD and European Union countries and its relationships with selected factors, including demographic factors. Attention is paid to the structure of the population, emphasizing the importance of population aging and other demographic processes. The methods applied include the multivariate statistical analysis and panel data approach. The main source of data is the OECD database and Eurostat. The study provides an analysis of the variation of analyzed countries according to selected indicators referring to the socio-economic conditions. The grouping of the countries with respect to social spending and selected factors is also provided. The results imply the regional differences of the countries under consideration. Keywords - Ageing, Cluster Analysis; Public Expenditure; OECD Countries;