It's now at its lowest rate, as a share of the population, since 1991.
Federal spending as a share of GDP will average 24.1% over his first term including 2013.
As shown below, US reliance on oil imports as a share of consumption is gradually declining.
The U.S. reduced spending as a share of GDP by 5% from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.
The study also points to the importance of home ownership as a share of retirement assets.
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As a share of GDP, South Korea's military spending is bigger than China's, Japan's and Brazil's.
As a share of the electorate, Latinos still lag behind their share of the overall population.
As a share-based investment, this is more risky than a cash account, because returns are not guaranteed.
Interestingly, the burden of government spending actually fell as a share of GDP between 1983 and 2000.
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Instead, over the past decade, mental health spending, as a share of total health spending, has dropped.
Copper has more than doubled as a share of total import value during this time as well.
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Yet consumption is still falling as a share of GDP because investment has been growing even faster.
As a share of GDP, American business profits fell from 12.2% in 1965 to 6.4% in 1982.
It says that net debt as a share of the economy has to be falling in 2015-16.
Although public debt rose, it remained low as a share of GDP compared to the rest of Europe.
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Any comprehensive deficit reduction must take on the imbalance between revenues and expenditures as a share of GDP.
Furthermore, Governor Romney proposes revenue-neutral reform while the Simpson-Bowles Commission would raise taxes as a share of GDP.
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Britain also has a deficit, although as a share of national income, it is not all that large.
The other thing that has risen as a share of national income is taxes on consumption minus subsidies.
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Measured as a share of GDP, investment in equipment and software is almost back to its prerecession level.
By this alternative measure, consumption fell as a share of GDP until 2008, but started growing strongly thereafter.
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The jobless rate as a share of all aged 16-24 is 13%, a bit less scary if hardly comforting.
However, borrowing by individuals remains relatively low as a share of GDP, mainly because so few people have mortgages.
As a share of exports, for example, Latin America's external debt is more than twice as high as Asia's.
Chinese officials say they plan to boost domestic consumption as a share of GDP, and Woo is a believer.
But Britain's bank exposure is still huge, and a shade larger as a share of GDP, at 14.7%, than Germany's.
It found that a 1% rise in government consumption as a share of GDP eventually reduced private-sector consumption by 1.9%.
In France, small-business lending as a share of the overall loan market stayed constant before, during and after the crisis.
Government revenues as a share of output are low by international standards and have fallen in recent years (see chart).
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Spending on pensions for private-sector workers in the formal economy has tripled as a share of Brazil's GDP since 1988.
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