Many nations have signed up to accords, such as the Kyoto agreement or Montreal protocol, which require action to be taken. State expenditure is very complex. Composite figures for how the state spends its money are, however, difficult to develop. Figure 5 shows the results for a segmentation US federal expenditure. The breakdown of US federal expenditure by category in 1999.
Social spending is shaded blue.
In common with most other industrial nations, the expenditure on social issues is very large. These are shaded blue on the figure. Issues such as defence, transport, justice, science and international relations take a relatively minor component. Similar results are mirrored in state-level estimates for the US, and for national figures for other OECD nations. The growth in state expenditure during the past century has been driven by social considerations.