In 2006-07 average legal aid expenditure per head of population in England and Wales was £37. Ministry of Justice has not made a comparative assessment with other EU countries. However, all known studies suggest that England and Wales spend more per capita than any other jurisdiction.
The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice published a report on European Judicial Systems in 2006, which included 2004 per head expenditure data. The following table shows a selection of countries.
Country £ per head England and Wales 38 Northern Ireland 32 Scotland 30 Netherlands 16 Republic of Ireland 8 Germany 4 France 3
The full report is available online at:
http://www.coe.int/t/dg1/legalcooperation/cepej/evaluation/2006/Report2006resume_en.pdf