Data / Government spending on education (COFOG)

Government spending on education (COFOG)

Total expenditure of general government on education (COFOG division 09: pre-primary to tertiary education, education not definable by level, subsidiary services, research and development and other education spending) as a percentage of GDP, from the government accounts by function (ESA 2010).

Keep it in a collection in your library.

A national accounts measure of all government education spending, transfers included. UNESCO and OECD education finance statistics count spending on educational institutions by a different method, so their figures differ.

Key facts

Figures last updated on 2026-10-12.

Rankings

EU countries by government spending on education (COFOG), 2024

Top 15. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Sweden: 7.3 % of GDPSweden7.3Belgium: 6.3 % of GDPBelgium6.3Estonia: 6.3 % of GDPEstonia6.3Finland: 6.3 % of GDPFinland6.3Latvia: 6.1 % of GDPLatvia6.1Denmark: 5.6 % of GDPDenmark5.6Poland: 5.6 % of GDPPoland5.6Lithuania: 5.5 % of GDPLithuania5.5Slovenia: 5.5 % of GDPSlovenia5.5Austria: 5.3 % of GDPAustria5.3France: 5.1 % of GDPFrance5.1Netherlands: 5.1 % of GDPNetherlands5.1Slovakia: 5.1 % of GDPSlovakia5.1Croatia: 5 % of GDPCroatia5Cyprus: 5 % of GDPCyprus5Sweden: 7.3 % of GDPSweden7.3Belgium: 6.3 % of GDPBelgium6.3Estonia: 6.3 % of GDPEstonia6.3Finland: 6.3 % of GDPFinland6.3Latvia: 6.1 % of GDPLatvia6.1Denmark: 5.6 % of GDPDenmark5.6Poland: 5.6 % of GDPPoland5.6Lithuania: 5.5 % of GDPLithuania5.5Slovenia: 5.5 % of GDPSlovenia5.5Austria: 5.3 % of GDPAustria5.3France: 5.1 % of GDPFrance5.1Netherlands: 5.1 % of GDPNetherlands5.1Slovakia: 5.1 % of GDPSlovakia5.1Croatia: 5 % of GDPCroatia5Cyprus: 5 % of GDPCyprus5
% of GDP. Source: Eurostat, General government expenditure by function (COFOG), education, total general government expenditure, percentage of GDP (gov_10a_exp). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking of EU countries

Places with data

Published for world, eu and euro area, countries.

World, EU and euro area

Countries

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:

Which places have the highest government spending on education (COFOG)? Use official data and cite it.
rank_places {"indicator":"government_education_expenditure_cofog_gdp_share","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=government_education_expenditure_cofog_gdp_share&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)

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