Budget Galaxy
| Rank ▲ | Country ▲ | Records ▲ | Organizations ▲ | Total Funding ▲ | Top NGO | Sources ▲ |
|---|
Top 20 Countries by Records
Regional Distribution
Funding by Ministry
Yearly Trend
Organizations
Data Sources
Transparency Comparison: EU vs Germany
How the EU tracks every euro to a named beneficiary — while Germany reports 92% as anonymous flows
About German Budget Galaxy
What is this?
An interactive visualization of the entire German federal budget (Bundeshaushalt 2024) — €476.8 billion across 25 ministries, 216 departments, and 4,388 individual budget items.
Every sphere you see represents a real budget allocation. The size is proportional to the amount. Click any sphere to explore what’s inside. Zoom in to see the details. Every euro is traceable to an official line item in the Bundeshaushalt.
Why does this exist?
The German federal budget is public. It is published annually by the Bundesministerium der Finanzen. Anyone can look it up.
But “public” is not the same as “accessible.” The official data is spread across thousands of pages of Einzelpläne in a format designed for parliamentary procedure, not for public understanding. Knowing that €44.8 billion goes to pension insurance is not the same as seeing it next to the €47 million for the Federal President.
This project makes the structure visible. Not to argue for more or less spending in any area, but to give anyone — citizen, journalist, student, researcher — an immediate, intuitive grasp of where the money goes.
Three tools
Budget Galaxy
The visual entry point. A zoomable circle-packing visualization where each ministry is a sphere, and within each ministry, departments and budget items nest inside. The biggest sphere — Labour & Social Affairs at €175.7B — is impossible to ignore. That’s the point.
Budget Explorer
The analytical tool. Navigate the budget hierarchy with a breadcrumb trail (like file folders on a computer). Each level shows a breakdown with percentages, spending type analysis (personnel vs. transfers vs. investments), and enriched context — who benefits, how much per person, how Germany compares internationally.
Budget Evolution
The historical view. Ten years of budget data (2015–2024) showing how spending changed over time. The COVID spike. The Zeitenwende in defence. The explosion of debt service costs. Select any combination of ministries or categories to compare.
Data sources
All data comes from the official Bundeshaushalt published by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium der Finanzen) via bundeshaushalt.de.
Enrichment data (beneficiary counts, international comparisons, institutional context) comes from official statistics published by the relevant federal agencies: Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Bundesagentur für Arbeit, OECD, NATO, Destatis, and others. Each source is cited where it appears.
Historical data covers Bundeshaushalt Soll (planned budget) for each year from 2015 to 2024.
Limitations
• This shows the planned budget (Soll), not actual spending (Ist). Actual expenditures can differ.
• Off-budget items like the Sondervermögen Bundeswehr (€100B special defence fund) and the Klima- und Transformationsfonds are not included in the Einzelpläne and therefore not shown here.
• Enrichment data (beneficiary counts, international comparisons) is approximate and from various reporting periods (mostly 2023–2024). It has been fact-checked against official sources but may not reflect the most current figures.
• Translations of official German budget item names are provided for accessibility. The official names are in German — use the DE/EN toggle or the translate button for individual items.
Sources
| Federal Budget | bundeshaushalt.de — Bundesministerium der Finanzen |
| Pensions | deutsche-rentenversicherung.de — DRV Bund |
| Employment | statistik.arbeitsagentur.de — Bundesagentur für Arbeit |
| Statistics | destatis.de — Statistisches Bundesamt |
| Health | gkv-spitzenverband.de — GKV-Spitzenverband |
| Defence | NATO Defence Expenditure |
| OECD Data | data.oecd.org — Social Expenditure, Health, Education |
| Migration | bamf.de — Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge |
| Federal Debt | deutsche-finanzagentur.de — Deutsche Finanzagentur |
| Development | bmz.de — Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit |
| Railways | ir.deutschebahn.com — Deutsche Bahn Integrated Report |
| Research | bmbf.de — Bundesbericht Forschung und Innovation |
| Global Fund | theglobalfund.org — GFATM Results Report |
Budget Data by Year
All budget CSVs are sourced from the official Bundeshaushalt published by the Bundesministerium der Finanzen. Each file contains the complete Soll (planned) budget for that fiscal year.
| Year | Source | Total |
| 2025 | bundeshaushalt.de/2025 · CSV | €501.6B |
| 2024 | bundeshaushalt.de/2024 · CSV | €476.8B |
| 2023 | bundeshaushalt.de/2023 · CSV | €812.5B ⚠ |
| 2022 | bundeshaushalt.de/2022 · CSV | €495.8B |
| 2021 | bundeshaushalt.de/2021 · CSV | €498.6B |
| 2020 | bundeshaushalt.de/2020 · CSV | €362.0B |
| 2019 | bundeshaushalt.de/2019 · CSV | €356.4B |
| 2018 | bundeshaushalt.de/2018 · CSV | €343.6B |
| 2017 | bundeshaushalt.de/2017 · CSV | €329.1B |
| 2016 | bundeshaushalt.de/2016 · CSV | €316.9B |
| 2015 | bundeshaushalt.de/2015 · CSV | €299.1B |
What this dataset is
This is a compiled dataset from 13 official public primary sources documenting German public funding flows to non-governmental organizations. It covers the period 2010–2025 and contains 528,000+ records.
Every record carries a confidence_level field (verified, estimated, or inferred) and a traceable source_url linking to the original primary source. The dataset documents funding flows — it does not attribute conduct, intent, or wrongdoing to any organization.
Statistical patterns in the dataset are detected by automated queries. They indicate data points that warrant further investigation by qualified journalists or researchers. They are not accusations.
Press Standards (Pressekodex Compliance)
| Pressekodex Ziffer | Requirement | This dataset |
|---|---|---|
| Ziffer 1 Wahrhaftigkeit | Facts must be verified | Every claim links to official primary source URL |
| Ziffer 2 Sorgfaltspflicht | Independent verification | 13 sources cross-checked; confidence_level per record; limitations documented |
| Ziffer 2 Sorgfaltspflicht | Right of reply | Dataset is factual — no conduct attributed to any organization |
| Ziffer 3 Richtigstellung | Correct errors promptly | Public versioning log with timestamps |
| Ziffer 8 Persönlichkeitsrechte | Protect personal data | All data relates to organizations, not natural persons |
| Ziffer 13 Unschuldsvermutung | No prejudgment | Statistical patterns only — no accusations |
Data Source Licenses
| Source | License | Attribution Required | ShareAlike | Commercial Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OECD CRS | OECD Terms (open, attribution) | Yes | No | ✓ |
| IATI Datastore | ODC-PDDL v1.0 (public domain) | Not required | No | ✓ |
| EU FTS | CC BY 4.0 / CC0 (raw data) | Yes — cite EC | No | ✓ |
| Berlin ZDB | CC BY-SA | Yes | Yes | ✓ |
| Bundeshaushalt | Datenlizenz Deutschland Zero v2.0 | Not required | No | ✓ |
| Bundestag DIP | Public parliamentary docs (§5 UrhG) | Cite Drucksache number | No | ✓ |
| FragDenStaat | CC0 / public domain | Cite fragdenstaat.de | No | ✓ |
| Bremen ZEBRA | Datenlizenz Deutschland | Yes | No | ✓ |
| Demokratie leben! PDFs | Public government docs | Cite BMFSFJ | No | ✓ |
| NGO Monitor | Editorial/research use | Cite ngo-monitor.org | No | ⚠ Research only |
You are free to share, copy, redistribute, adapt, and build upon this material for any purpose, including commercial use, under the following terms:
- Attribution: Cite as 'German Budget Galaxy (2026)' + cite the original primary source for each record used
- ShareAlike: Derivative datasets must use the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license
- No endorsement: Use of this data does not imply endorsement by any source organization
Acceptable Use & Limitations
Permitted uses:
- Journalism, academic research, public policy analysis
- Personal, educational, and non-profit use
- Reproduction with attribution to primary source
Prohibited uses:
- Attributing criminal, fraudulent, or immoral conduct to any organization based solely on this dataset
- Presenting data as “exclusive” when the primary source is publicly available
- Combining with personal data without appropriate legal basis
GDPR / DSGVO note:
All data relates to organizations, not natural persons. Journalistic and research use is covered under § 85 DSGVO and § 41 BDSG (Medienprivileg). Contact for corrections: pookie.data@proton.me
Dataset corrections log:
No corrections recorded. Dataset version: 1.0 (2026-03-30)