Dependence between Basic Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Population and the Size of Government Expenditure on Social Protection

Abstract

One of the serious public questions for years has been related to the size of government expenditure and government revenues and the formed government budget. The latter determines the amount of government intervention in the economy and the public goods provided by the state. The growth of government expenditure is influenced by various factors, both on the demand side of public goods and on the supply side. In this context, in the present article the author's interest is focused on the study of the dependence between basic socio-demographic characteristics of the population and the size of government expenditure on social protection. The guiding working hypothesis for the research is that there is a positive relationship between government expenditure on social protection in the European Union (EU) Member States from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and basic socio-demographic characteristics of the population. The verification of the hypothesis is carried out in the following sequence: first, on the basis of a study of literary sources, quantitative indicators reflecting basic socio-demographic characteristics of the population are substantiated; secondly, on the basis of the adopted indicators, socio-demographic population indices are calculated for the EU Member States from Central and Eastern Europe; third, the relationship between the government expenditure on social protection and the socio-demographic population index is measured by means of the coefficient of K. Pearson. The working hypothesis has been confirmed, as it has been established that there is a positive relationship between the studied variables in each year of the analyzed period 2017-2021. The values of the correlation coefficient during the period 2017-2021 in chronological order are as follows: 0.733 6; 0.7128; 0.7011; 0.7006; 0.7063.