Factbox: Austerity measures around the euro zone

(Reuters) - Here are details of some austerity measures around the euro zone as the Irish government urged parliament on Tuesday to approve a tough 2011 austerity budget.

* IRELAND:

-- Ireland's recession-weary population has already endured two and a half years of cuts and the prospect of four more years of sacrifice, begun with the toughest budget on record, has many people wondering how they will cope.

-- Finance Minister Brian Lenihan sketched out on Tuesday a series of spending cuts and tax increases which include a flat tax rate of 1 percent on all residential property transactions up to a value of 1 million euros with 2 percent applying to amounts above 1 million euros.

-- A 10 euro reduction on both lower and higher child benefit rate with an additional 10 euro reduction for a third child only.

-- Public service pensions above 12,000 euros a year will be reduced by an average of 4 percent.

-- A failed vote this week or next would trigger a general election and prevent the flow of funds from an EU/IMF rescue until a new administration was in place.

-- Ireland set out last month its four-year plan to make 15 billion euros in savings to bring down its record deficit, a condition for the country to receive 85 billion euros in loans from the IMF and the European Union. The EU approved the rescue on November 28.

-- The four-year plan is made up of 10 billion euros in spending reductions and 5 billion euros in tax and revenue-raising measures.

-- Other measures include savings in social welfare expenditure of 2.8 billion euros by 2014 and cuts to public service staff numbers by 24,750 over 2008 levels, back to levels last seen in 2005.

-- The budget deficit is set to blow out to 32 percent of GDP in 2010 due to the one-off inclusion of a mammoth bill for bailing out Ireland's banks. Excluding the bank bill, the deficit will be 11.7 percent of GDP in 2010 as against a target of 11.6 percent. The deficit will be reduced to 9.1 percent of GDP in 2011, 7.0 percent in 2012, 5.5 percent in 2013 and to 2.8 percent by 2014.

* GREECE:

-- Greece promised last month to raise VAT, freeze pensions and cut government waste further in 2011 to meet the terms of an EU/IMF bailout after admitting it would miss a full-year budget deficit target by about 1.5 percentage points. Athens agreed to identify additional fiscal measures for 2012-2014, worth 5 percent of GDP, to cut its budget deficit to below 3 percent of GDP by 2014, said IMF mission chief for Greece Poul Thomsen. -- The deficit will shrink by 5.1 billion euros in 2011 to 16.8 billion euros, or 7.4 percent of gross domestic product, back in line with the terms of the bailout deal, after fiscal slippages and a deeper-than-expected recession derailed this year's efforts.

-- The new cuts are bigger than the initially planned 2.2 billion euro deficit reduction targeted in the first budget draft. For more details on Greece's 2011 final draft budget, click on.

Some measures revealed on November 18 included:

-- An increase in the lower VAT rates to 13 percent from 11 percent and to 6.5 percent from 5.5 percent, along with a levy on large profitable firms.

-- Cuts in government operating costs and a nominal pension freeze.

* FRANCE:

-- France's Constitutional Council approved President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension bill on November 9, clearing the last hurdle to a reform that will raise the retirement age by two years to stem a huge pension deficit.

-- The law will raise the retirement age to 62 from 60 by 2018, making people work longer for a full pension, and will raise public sector contributions to private sector levels. The reform will also raise the eligible age to receive a full pension to 67 from 65.

-- The budget aims to cut the public deficit to 6 percent of gross domestic product in 2011 from an estimated 7.7 percent in 2010, in the first phase of a plan to trim the shortfall to the EU's 3 percent ceiling in 2013, and 2 percent in 2014.

The budget envisages:

-- Raising the top marginal rate of tax to 41 percent from 40 percent to fund pension reforms.

-- Raising the tax on capital gains by one percentage point.

-- The end of a one-off corporate tax break in 2010 will increase revenues by 5.3 billion euros.

-- The end of fiscal stimulus measures will cut 8.2 billion euros from the deficit.

* PORTUGAL:

-- Portugal's parliament on November 3 approved the general guidelines of the budget bill, clearing another hurdle for a fiscal program that aims to cut the deficit sharply.

-- Portugal has promised to cut this year's budget deficit to 7.3 percent of gross domestic product from 9.3 percent last year and further reduce it to 4.6 percent in 2011.

Here are some of the measures:

-- Cuts of 5 percent in civil servant wages and increases in taxes in an effort to save 5.1 billion euros ($6.93 billion) next year.

-- On the revenue side, the measures would add 1.7 billion euros to state coffers, or one percentage point of gross domestic product. They include:

-- Value-added tax to be raised by 2 percentage points for top level to 23 percent from 21 percent, expanding on a 1 percentage point increase on all levels implemented in July.

* SPAIN:

-- Spain revealed full details of its 2011 budget on October 7 before parliament, including its estimates for bond issuance in 2011. Announced measures include:

-- Public spending, excluding autonomous regions, to be cut by 7.9 percent to 122 billion euros ($165.7 billion) in 2011.

-- Income tax rate on those earning more than 120,000 euros rises to 22.5 percent from 21.5 percent. Government hopes to raise 170-200 million euros from tax hike on high earners.

-- Forecasts additional 1.2 billion euros in savings from regional and local governments.

* ITALY:

-- Although Italy kept its budget deficit down to 5.3 percent of GDP in 2009, well below the EU average, the budget aims to cut the deficit to 2.7 percent by 2012.

Measures include:

-- Delaying retirement dates by three to six months, a state salary freeze and pay cuts for high public sector earners.

-- Regional and local governments will be pressed to contribute some 13 billion euros of spending cuts in 2011-2012.

-- There will be a 10 percent cut per year in 2011 and 2012 in spending by all government ministries.

* GERMANY:

-- Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government aims to save around 80 billion euros between 2011 and 2014 and get the budget deficit below European Union limits by 2013. The cabinet backed a bill covering the bulk of the 80 billion euro ($101 program over the next four years on September 1.

-- Germany's Bundestag lower house of parliament agreed on November 26 the 2011 federal budget plan which puts Berlin on track to hit deficit reduction targets after a faster-than-expected recovery. The budget set federal spending at 319.5 billion euros ($424 billion), 4.3 percent less than 2010, and net new borrowing at 48.4 billion euros, lower than originally forecast.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by David Stamp)