Method
The figures on this site come from official sources, named under each chart. There are two exceptions, and both are always labelled: our own estimates, and statements by ministers, the Fiscal Council or others that we quote as reported in the press. This page lists the sources and the choices we made.
One basis for everything
Figures follow the European system of accounts (ESA 2010) and cover general government: the state budget, the Social Insurance and GESY funds, local authorities and other public bodies, with payments between them netted out. They are on an accrual basis, which records a tax in the year it is owed, not the day it is paid.
The State Budget voted by Parliament is different: it is a cash budget for the central government only, and its total includes repaying loans. When a page uses a budget figure, it says so. The stories about ministries, defence, water and the largest projects use mainly budget figures, because the European statistics do not go down to that level. The stories about the pension fund, GESY, the debt and local charges use those bodies' own accounts and notices, which are neither. Three numbers, one budget explains the difference.
Sources
- Eurostat government finance statistics for Cyprus: revenue, expenditure and balance; taxes by type; spending by purpose; debt. This is the backbone, and the Statistical Service of Cyprus compiles it.
- The explanatory memorandum to the State Budget bill (Ministry of Finance) for budget figures and the government's own projections.
- The Income Tax Law, the Social Insurance Law and the GESY Law, as in force for tax year 2026, for the salary tool.
- The Statistical Service's earnings data for median and average pay.
- The Treasury's monthly reports on the execution of the state budget, for spending during the year.
- The Tax Department's annual reports for unpaid tax and yearly collections.
- The European Commission: its yearly account of EU spending and revenue by member state, its weekly oil bulletin for fuel prices and their tax content, and its tax database for tobacco duty.
- The Department of Lands and Surveys for the boundaries of the municipalities, and each municipality's own website for whether it publishes a budget.
- The budget bill by ministry and the Treasury's annual Financial Report for what each ministry was allowed to spend and what it spent.
- The Tax Department's tables of taxpayers by income band, published for the tax years 2017, 2021 and 2022 only.
- The Public Debt Management Office: its annual report and quarterly bulletins, for who the state owes, when it falls due and what it costs.
- The Social Insurance Services' statistics bulletin for the accounts of the Social Insurance Fund, and the European Commission's Ageing Report for projections.
- The Health Insurance Organisation's audited accounts, annual reports and budget laws for GESY.
- The Audit Office's special reports on the Electricity Authority and on water management, and the Electricity Authority's own annual reports and fuel adjustment tables.
- The rate notices of the municipalities and district organisations for water, sewerage, refuse and property fees.
Each chart names its source and year underneath. Figures were last fetched on 2–3 October 2026.
Which year
The money-flow picture uses 2024, the latest year that has both detailed taxes and spending by purpose. Headline totals are available for 2025. Eurostat revises its figures every April and October, and the site is refreshed after each.
How spending is grouped
Spending by purpose follows the international classification of the functions of government. We group it into eleven lines:
| Our line | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Pensions | Old-age and survivors' pensions |
| Family, disability and other benefits | The rest of social protection |
| Health | All health spending, including GESY |
| Education | Schools, universities and services to them |
| Running the state | General public services, without debt interest |
| Interest on the debt | Public debt transactions |
| Transport, farming, economy | Economic affairs |
| Housing, water, community | Housing and community amenities |
| Defence | Defence |
| Police, courts, fire service | Public order and safety |
| Environment, culture, sport | Environmental protection; recreation, culture and religion |
How categories are drawn changes how spending looks, so the grouping is published here and does not change from page to page.
What is estimated
Anything drawn with hatching is an estimate, not a measurement.
- VAT and duties for one person. There is no record of the VAT an individual pays. We estimate it at about 12% of household spending, from the structure of spending in the household budget survey and the VAT and duty rates in force. The survey figures for Cyprus are old, and your own spending will differ.
- The live counter. It spreads the government's projected totals for 2026 evenly across the year. It is not a feed of real payments.
- The electricity bill. It is our own calculation for a household using 800 kilowatt-hours in two months. The cost of emission allowances inside it is an estimate.
- Who pays no income tax, and who gained from the 2026 reform. There was no official count by October 2026. We use a model estimate published by researchers at the Central Bank of Cyprus, and say so where it appears.
- The household's local bill. It is our arithmetic on published rates for one example household. Most municipalities do not publish all their rates.
- How much of your pay you spend. To estimate VAT, the salary tool assumes the share of take-home pay that is spent falls from 95% at low incomes to 60% at high ones.
What we quote from others
Some stories report what a minister, the Fiscal Council, the Audit Office or a union has said. Where we took such a statement from press coverage and have not checked it against the original document, the story says so.
The salary tool
It covers an employee with one salary, no other income and no optional deductions. It applies the 2026 income tax bands after subtracting social insurance (8.8% up to €68,904) and GESY (2.65% up to €180,000).
"Relocated for work" applies the income tax exemption for people who take up first employment in Cyprus after living abroad: half of pay is exempt at €55,000 a year or more, otherwise a fifth, up to €8,550.
To share your payments out over what the state spends on, contributions follow the law (social insurance to pensions and benefits, GESY to health), and income tax and VAT follow the general budget's spending in 2024. The funds' surplus is the state's own contribution, not yours, and the tool does not show it.
It is not tax advice.
Population
Figures per resident use Eurostat's population for the area under the control of the Republic: 974,666 on average in 2024, 989,769 on average in 2025 and 996,571 on 1 January 2026.
Corrections
If a number looks wrong, write to v@bougay.com. Corrections are made on the page and noted here.
- 3 October 2026. Two pots, not one said that nearly half of the funds' surplus in 2025 was money from the general budget. It is almost all of it. As we read them, the European statistics count the state's contribution to the Social Insurance Fund, €689 million, among contributions, and we had treated it as paid by workers and employers. Fourteen billion in, thirteen out was corrected on the same point.
- 3 October 2026. The tax you never see said the cost of emission allowances in an electricity bill goes to the state. The Electricity Authority buys allowances on a Europe-wide market; the state earns a smaller sum from selling its own.