Data / Government spending on education, share of GDP / United States

Government spending on education, share of GDP in United States

Government spending on education, share of GDP in the United States was 5.4% of GDP in 2021, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is unchanged from 2020.

2021, % of GDP5.4
Change on 20200 pts
Series high5.42021
Series low4.82016

Next release: Friday, 8 October 2027, estimated by Invokely from past publication dates (low confidence), not announced by the publisher. Release calendar

Get an email when a new figure is out or this one is revised.
Keep it in a collection in your library.

Government spending on education, share of GDP in United States, 2015 to 2021

4.64.855.25.45.620152016201720182019202020212015: 4.9 % of GDP2016: 4.8 % of GDP2017: 5.1 % of GDP2018: 4.9 % of GDP2019: 5 % of GDP2020: 5.4 % of GDP2021: 5.4 % of GDP4.64.855.25.45.62015201820212015: 4.9 % of GDP2016: 4.8 % of GDP2017: 5.1 % of GDP2018: 4.9 % of GDP2019: 5 % of GDP2020: 5.4 % of GDP2021: 5.4 % of GDP
% of GDP. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS) via World Bank, World Development Indicators. Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-10-08.
All 7 values
Period% of GDP
20215.4
20205.4
20195
20184.9
20175.1
20164.8
20154.9

United States compared with nearby places

United Arab Emirates: 3.9 % of GDPAntigua and Barbuda: 2.5 % of GDPAlbania: 3 % of GDPArmenia: 2.8 % of GDPAngola: 2.3 % of GDPArgentina: 4.7 % of GDPAustria: 5.5 % of GDPAustralia: 5.3 % of GDPAzerbaijan: 3.7 % of GDPBosnia and Herzegovina: 4.1 % of GDPBangladesh: 2.2 % of GDPBelgium: 6.4 % of GDPBurkina Faso: 5.2 % of GDPBulgaria: 4.7 % of GDPBurundi: 4.9 % of GDPBenin: 3.1 % of GDPBolivia: 8 % of GDPBrazil: 5.5 % of GDPBahamas: 3 % of GDPBhutan: 6.6 % of GDPBelarus: 4.6 % of GDPBelize: 6 % of GDPCanada: 4.7 % of GDPDemocratic Republic of the Congo: 2.7 % of GDPCentral African Republic: 1.9 % of GDPRepublic of the Congo: 3.3 % of GDPSwitzerland: 5 % of GDPCôte d’Ivoire: 3.3 % of GDPChile: 5 % of GDPCameroon: 2.8 % of GDPCosta Rica: 6.2 % of GDPCuba: 9.4 % of GDPCape Verde: 6.2 % of GDPCyprus: 5.1 % of GDPCzechia: 4.7 % of GDPGermany: 5.4 % of GDPDenmark: 7 % of GDPDominican Republic: 3.6 % of GDPAlgeria: 5.5 % of GDPEcuador: 3.7 % of GDPEstonia: 5.2 % of GDPSpain: 4.8 % of GDPEthiopia: 4.1 % of GDPFinland: 6.6 % of GDPFiji: 4.9 % of GDPFrance: 5.4 % of GDPGabon: 2.7 % of GDPUnited Kingdom: 5.9 % of GDPGeorgia: 3.6 % of GDPGhana: 3.4 % of GDPGambia: 3 % of GDPGuinea: 2 % of GDPGuatemala: 3.1 % of GDPHong Kong: 4 % of GDPHonduras: 5.9 % of GDPCroatia: 4.1 % of GDPHaiti: 1.2 % of GDPHungary: 4.7 % of GDPIndonesia: 1 % of GDPIreland: 2.9 % of GDPIsrael: 6.2 % of GDPIndia: 4.6 % of GDPIceland: 8.2 % of GDPItaly: 4.2 % of GDPJamaica: 5.6 % of GDPJordan: 3.1 % of GDPJapan: 3.3 % of GDPKenya: 4.9 % of GDPKyrgyzstan: 5.2 % of GDPCambodia: 2 % of GDPKiribati: 14 % of GDPSouth Korea: 4.6 % of GDPKuwait: 7.8 % of GDPCayman Islands: 1.3 % of GDPKazakhstan: 4.4 % of GDPLaos: 1.9 % of GDPSri Lanka: 1.5 % of GDPLiberia: 2.4 % of GDPLithuania: 4.2 % of GDPLuxembourg: 3.7 % of GDPLatvia: 4.8 % of GDPMorocco: 5.6 % of GDPMoldova: 5.8 % of GDPMadagascar: 3.2 % of GDPMali: 3.7 % of GDPMauritania: 1.9 % of GDPMauritius: 4.7 % of GDPMexico: 4.2 % of GDPMalaysia: 4.3 % of GDPMozambique: 6.3 % of GDPNamibia: 10.4 % of GDPNiger: 3.8 % of GDPNigeria: 0.4 % of GDPNicaragua: 4.1 % of GDPNetherlands: 5.4 % of GDPNorway: 7 % of GDPNepal: 4.4 % of GDPNew Zealand: 5.5 % of GDPPanama: 3.7 % of GDPPeru: 3.9 % of GDPPapua New Guinea: 0.7 % of GDPPhilippines: 3.9 % of GDPPakistan: 1.7 % of GDPPoland: 4.6 % of GDPPuerto Rico: 3.7 % of GDPPalestine: 5.4 % of GDPPortugal: 4.8 % of GDPPalau: 3.9 % of GDPParaguay: 3.4 % of GDPRomania: 3.3 % of GDPSerbia: 3.1 % of GDPRussia: 4 % of GDPRwanda: 5.6 % of GDPSolomon Islands: 8.3 % of GDPSweden: 7.6 % of GDPSingapore: 2.8 % of GDPSlovenia: 5.4 % of GDPSlovakia: 4.7 % of GDPSierra Leone: 5.6 % of GDPSenegal: 5.6 % of GDPSuriname: 4.1 % of GDPEl Salvador: 3.6 % of GDPEswatini: 5.3 % of GDPChad: 2 % of GDPTogo: 4.2 % of GDPThailand: 3 % of GDPTajikistan: 4.4 % of GDPTimor-Leste: 3 % of GDPTurkmenistan: 3.8 % of GDPTunisia: 6.7 % of GDPTürkiye: 3.5 % of GDPTrinidad and Tobago: 3 % of GDPTanzania: 3.1 % of GDPUkraine: 5.1 % of GDPUganda: 2.6 % of GDPUnited States: 5.4 % of GDPUruguay: 4.5 % of GDPUzbekistan: 4.1 % of GDPVietnam: 2.9 % of GDPVanuatu: 10.1 % of GDPSamoa: 5.2 % of GDPSouth Africa: 6.6 % of GDPZambia: 3.1 % of GDP
  • Under 2.9
  • 2.9 to 3.6
  • 3.6 to 4.2
  • 4.2 to 5
  • 5 to 5.7
  • 5.7 and over
  • No data
Government spending on education, share of GDP, 2021, % of GDP. United States is outlined. Same source and period for every area shown. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

Rankings

Definition

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.

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.

Report a problem with this figure

How to cite

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.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2026). Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS) (Government spending on education, share of GDP, United States, 2015 to 2021) [Data set]. World Bank, World Development Indicators. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS

MLA 9

Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS), Government spending on education, share of GDP, United States, 2015 to 2021. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 8 Oct. 2026, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS. World Bank, World Development Indicators, https://data.worldbank.org. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/education-spending-gdp/united-states. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2026. Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS). Government spending on education, share of GDP, United States, 2015 to 2021. Dataset. Distributed by World Bank, World Development Indicators. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/education-spending-gdp/united-states.

Harvard

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS), Government spending on education, share of GDP, United States, 2015 to 2021 [Dataset]. Via World Bank, World Development Indicators. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/education-spending-gdp/united-states (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{unesco_government_spending_on_education_2021,
  author = {{UNESCO Institute for Statistics}},
  title = {{Government expenditure on education, total, \% of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS): Government spending on education, share of GDP, United States, 2015 to 2021}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  publisher = {World Bank, World Development Indicators},
  url = {https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org). Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/education-spending-gdp/united-states. Publisher attribution: 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.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - UNESCO Institute for Statistics
TI  - Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS): Government spending on education, share of GDP, United States, 2015 to 2021
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - World Bank, World Development Indicators
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/education-spending-gdp/united-states
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org).
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/education-spending-gdp/united-states.
N1  - Publisher attribution: 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.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

What is the latest government spending on education, share of GDP in United States? Cite the source.
get_value {"indicator":"education_expenditure_gdp","place":"us"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/value?indicator=education_expenditure_gdp&place=us

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

What is the government spending on education, share of GDP in United States?

Government spending on education, share of GDP in the United States was 5.4% of GDP in 2021, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is unchanged from 2020.

Where does this figure come from?

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest government spending on education, share of GDP in United States?

5.4% of GDP in 2021, the highest value since 2015 in this series.

Government spending on education, share of GDP in other countries

Related statistics for United States

All statistics for United States | United States in figures