# Government spending on education, share of GDP

General government expenditure on education at all levels (current, capital and transfers), as a percentage of GDP. Includes spending funded by international transfers to government. UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

## Key facts

- Government spending on education, share of GDP in the United States was 5.4% of GDP in 2021, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- Kiribati had the highest government spending on education, share of GDP of 163 countries in 2022, at 14.8% of GDP, and Nigeria the lowest, at 0.3% of GDP. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- Published for 203 places, with figures from 1970 to 2025.
- Figures last updated on 2026-10-12.

- Indicator id: `education_expenditure_gdp`
- Unit: % of GDP
- Note: Government spending only: fees and other money paid by households and private bodies are left out, so countries where families pay a large share show lower values. For some countries UIS takes the figure from government budget documents, so a recent year can be revised when final accounts come in. Countries only; UIS publishes no World figure.
- Web page: https://invokely.ai/en/education-spending-gdp
- API: https://invokely.ai/api/v1/indicators/education_expenditure_gdp

## Latest figures

| Place | Period | % of GDP | Source |
|---|---|---:|---|
| United States | 2021 | 5.4 | Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS). Retrieved through World Bank World Development Indicators (data.worldbank.org). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. UIS does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data. |

## Rankings

- [Countries](https://invokely.ai/rankings/education-spending-gdp/countries.md) (203 places)
- [EU countries](https://invokely.ai/rankings/education-spending-gdp/eu-countries.md) (27 places)