Government spending on education by country, 2024
Total general government expenditure on education (COFOG division 09, all levels from pre-primary to tertiary), as a percentage of GDP.
30 places ranked for 2024. Highest: Sweden (7.2%). Lowest: Ireland (2.7%). The median is 5.1%.
Highest 10
Lowest 10
- 30. Ireland 2.7%
- 29. Greece 3.9%
- 28. Romania 4.0%
- 27. Italy 4.0%
- 26. Spain 4.1%p (provisional)
- 25. Portugal 4.3%p (provisional)
- 24. Bulgaria 4.3%
- 23. Germany 4.5%p (provisional)
- 22. Czechia 4.5%
- 21. Norway 4.7%
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Source: Eurostat.
In short
- Among the 30 countries with a value for 2024, the highest is Sweden (7.2%) and the lowest Ireland (2.7%).
- Half of the countries are above 5.1% and half below.
- From 2023 to 2024 the value rose in 16 countries and fell in 4.
- The figure for the European Union was 4.7% in 2024, against 4.6% in 2019 (+0.1 percentage points).
Full ranking
| # | Country | Value | Period | Relative size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 7.2% | 2024 | |
| 2 | Iceland | 7.0% | 2024 | |
| 3 | Belgium | 6.3%p (provisional) | 2024 | |
| 4 | Estonia | 6.3% | 2024 | |
| 5 | Finland | 6.3% | 2024 | |
| 6 | Latvia | 6.1% | 2024 | |
| 7 | Denmark | 5.6% | 2024 | |
| 8 | Poland | 5.6% | 2024 | |
| 9 | Lithuania | 5.5% | 2024 | |
| 10 | Slovenia | 5.5% | 2024 | |
| 11 | Austria | 5.3% | 2024 | |
| 12 | Switzerland | 5.3% | 2024 | |
| 13 | France | 5.1%p (provisional) | 2024 | |
| 14 | Netherlands | 5.1% | 2024 | |
| 15 | Slovakia | 5.1%p (provisional) | 2024 | |
| 16 | Croatia | 5.0% | 2024 | |
| 17 | Cyprus | 5.0% | 2024 | |
| 18 | Luxembourg | 5.0% | 2024 | |
| 19 | Hungary | 4.9% | 2024 | |
| 20 | Malta | 4.7% | 2024 | |
| 21 | Norway | 4.7% | 2024 | |
| 22 | Czechia | 4.5% | 2024 | |
| 23 | Germany | 4.5%p (provisional) | 2024 | |
| 24 | Bulgaria | 4.3% | 2024 | |
| 25 | Portugal | 4.3%p (provisional) | 2024 | |
| 26 | Spain | 4.1%p (provisional) | 2024 | |
| 27 | Italy | 4.0% | 2024 | |
| 28 | Romania | 4.0% | 2024 | |
| 29 | Greece | 3.9% | 2024 | |
| 30 | Ireland | 2.7% | 2024 |
Places are ordered from the highest to the lowest value. Group medians on this site are the middle value of the members with data for the same year; they are not official aggregates.
How this ranking works
Every country is ranked on its value for 2024, the latest period that most countries have, so all values are for the same point in time. Countries without a value for 2024 are left out. Groups and aggregates such as the European Union are not ranked. Values are as published by Eurostat; the ranking is a plain ordering from the highest to the lowest value and says nothing about whether a high value is good or bad.
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