0.4 per cent of public expenditure goes to fire protection

Public expenditure on fire-protection services was 0.4 per cent of total expenditure in 2019 in Cyprus, slightly lower than the EU average, Eurostat reported on the occasion of International Firefighters’ Day marked annually on May 4.

In 2019, the ratio of government fire-protection expenditure to total expenditure varied across EU member states, from 0.1 per cent of total expenditure in Denmark, 0.2 per cent in Malta, 0.3 per cent in Austria and Slovenia to 0.7 per cent in Czechia, 0.8 per cent in Romania and 0.9 per cent in Bulgaria.

The 27 EU member states’ government expenditure on fire-protection services amounted to €30.9 billion. This expenditure is equivalent to 0.5 per cent of total government expenditure, which is less than the amount spent on police services (expenditure equivalent to 2.0 per cent of total expenditure in 2019).

Overall public expenditure on fire-protection services remained stable at around 0.4 – 0.5 per cent of total expenditure since the beginning of the time series in 2001.

In 2020, 262,200 persons were employed as firefighters in the 22 EU countries with available data, representing 0.1 per cent of total employment in these countries. The vast majority of them were men (97 per cent) and almost half of them were aged 35-49 (47 per cent). Those aged less than 35 accounted for around one quarter (27 per cent) as well as those aged 50 years old or over (26 per cent).