Data / Rankings / Government spending on education, share of GDP / Countries

Countries by government spending on education, share of GDP

Micronesia had the highest government spending on education, share of GDP of 163 countries in 2016, at 13.8% of GDP. Nigeria had the lowest, at 0.4% of GDP. The median was 4.3% of GDP. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Highest13.8Micronesia
Lowest0.4Nigeria
Median4.3163 countries

Top 40 countries, 2016

Micronesia: 13.8 % of GDPMicronesia13.8Kiribati: 11.6 % of GDPKiribati11.6Namibia: 10.6 % of GDPNamibia10.6Cuba: 9 % of GDPCuba9Botswana: 8.7 % of GDPBotswana8.7Bolivia: 8.2 % of GDPBolivia8.2Timor-Leste: 8.1 % of GDPTimor-Leste8.1Norway: 8 % of GDPNorway8Denmark: 7.7 % of GDPDenmark7.7Vanuatu: 7.7 % of GDPVanuatu7.7Sweden: 7.6 % of GDPSweden7.6Lesotho: 7.6 % of GDPLesotho7.6Iceland: 7.4 % of GDPIceland7.4Finland: 6.9 % of GDPFinland6.9Costa Rica: 6.9 % of GDPCosta Rica6.9Kyrgyzstan: 6.6 % of GDPKyrgyzstan6.6Algeria: 6.5 % of GDPAlgeria6.5Belgium: 6.5 % of GDPBelgium6.5Bhutan: 6.4 % of GDPBhutan6.4Brazil: 6.3 % of GDPBrazil6.3Curaçao: 6.2 % of GDPCuraçao6.2Cyprus: 6.1 % of GDPCyprus6.1São Tomé and Príncipe: 6.1 % of GDPSão Tomé and Príncipe6.1Honduras: 6.1 % of GDPHonduras6.1Kuwait: 6 % of GDPKuwait6Israel: 5.8 % of GDPIsrael5.8Mozambique: 5.8 % of GDPMozambique5.8Tajikistan: 5.7 % of GDPTajikistan5.7Belize: 5.7 % of GDPBelize5.7Moldova: 5.7 % of GDPMoldova5.7Suriname: 5.6 % of GDPSuriname5.6Argentina: 5.5 % of GDPArgentina5.5Austria: 5.5 % of GDPAustria5.5Czechia: 5.5 % of GDPCzechia5.5New Zealand: 5.5 % of GDPNew Zealand5.5Aruba: 5.5 % of GDPAruba5.5Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 5.5 % of GDPSaint Vincent and the Grenadines5.5South Africa: 5.4 % of GDPSouth Africa5.4Eswatini: 5.4 % of GDPEswatini5.4United Kingdom: 5.4 % of GDPUnited Kingdom5.4
% 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.

Full ranking

RankCountries2016
% of GDP		Change on 2015
1Micronesia13.8+1.4 pts
2Kiribati11.6+0.9 pts
3Namibia10.6+0.7 pts
4Cuba90 pts
5Botswana8.7+0.3 pts
6Bolivia8.20 pts
7Timor-Leste8.1-0.3 pts
8Norway8+0.5 pts
9Denmark7.7n/a
10Vanuatu7.7+2.3 pts
11Sweden7.6+0.1 pts
12Lesotho7.6-0.1 pts
13Iceland7.4-0 pts
14Finland6.9-0.2 pts
15Costa Rica6.90 pts
16Kyrgyzstan6.6+0.6 pts
17Algeria6.5+0.3 pts
18Belgium6.50 pts
19Bhutan6.4-0.5 pts
20Brazil6.3+0.1 pts
21Curaçao6.2+0.3 pts
22Cyprus6.1-0.2 pts
23São Tomé and Príncipe6.1+1.4 pts
24Honduras6.1-0.3 pts
25Kuwait6n/a
26Israel5.80 pts
27Mozambique5.8-0.1 pts
28Tajikistan5.7+0.8 pts
29Belize5.7+0.4 pts
30Moldova5.7-0.1 pts
31Suriname5.6+0.1 pts
32Argentina5.5-0.2 pts
33Austria5.50 pts
34Czechia5.5-0.2 pts
35New Zealand5.5-0.2 pts
36Aruba5.5-0.4 pts
37Saint Vincent and the Grenadines5.5+0.5 pts
38South Africa5.4-0 pts
39Eswatini5.4+0.1 pts
40United Kingdom5.4-0.1 pts
41Netherlands5.4+0.1 pts
42Uzbekistan5.4-0.1 pts
43Chile5.4+0.5 pts
44Jamaica5.3-0.1 pts
45Saint Lucia5.2+1.3 pts
46Mongolia5.2+1 pts
47Dominica5.1+2 pts
48Senegal5.1-0.3 pts
49Morocco5.1-0 pts
50Ethiopia5.1+0.3 pts
51Estonia5.10 pts
52Ukraine5-0.3 pts
53Palestine5+0.3 pts
54Switzerland5-0 pts
55Malta50 pts
56Belarus4.9+0.2 pts
57Kenya4.9+0.2 pts
58Mauritius4.9+0.1 pts
59Republic of the Congo4.9+1.7 pts
60Slovenia4.8-0.1 pts
61Fiji4.80 pts
62Latvia4.8-0.6 pts
63Nauru4.8-1.4 pts
64Canada4.8+0.1 pts
65United States4.8-0.1 pts
66Germany4.80 pts
67Mexico4.8-0.3 pts
68Cape Verde4.8-0.1 pts
69Malaysia4.8-0.1 pts
70Guyana4.7+0.8 pts
71Burundi4.7-1.7 pts
72Türkiye4.6+0.3 pts
73Poland4.6-0.2 pts
74Hungary4.6+0.1 pts
75Afghanistan4.5+1.3 pts
76Colombia4.50 pts
77Ecuador4.5-0.6 pts
78Brunei4.4n/a
79Ghana4.4-0 pts
80Uruguay4.4+0.2 pts
81Bosnia and Herzegovina4.3+1.2 pts
82India4.3+0.1 pts
83Trinidad and Tobago4.2-0.2 pts
84Barbados4.2-1 pts
85Spain4.2-0.1 pts
86South Korea4.1-0.1 pts
87Tanzania4.1-0.1 pts
88Nicaragua4.10 pts
89Seychelles4-0.9 pts
90Lithuania4-0.2 pts
91Samoa4-0.4 pts
92Côte d’Ivoire3.9+0.4 pts
93Djibouti3.9+0.3 pts
94Albania3.9+0.5 pts
95Nepal3.9+0.6 pts
96Slovakia3.9-0.7 pts
97Dominican Republic3.9+0.2 pts
98El Salvador3.8-0.1 pts
99Bulgaria3.8-0.1 pts
100Peru3.8-0.2 pts
101Italy3.8-0.3 pts
102Thailand3.8-0.1 pts
103Russia3.8-0.1 pts
104Zambia3.7-0.9 pts
105Togo3.7-0 pts
106Maldives3.7-0.2 pts
107Ireland3.70 pts
108Georgia3.5+0.4 pts
109Serbia3.5n/a
110Vietnam3.5+0.1 pts
111Jordan3.5-0.3 pts
112Paraguay3.4+0.1 pts
113Rwanda3.4-0.2 pts
114Panama3.3+0.1 pts
115Philippines3.3+0.5 pts
116Hong Kong3.30 pts
117Malawi3.3-0.6 pts
118British Virgin Islands3.3-1.4 pts
119Andorra3.2-0 pts
120Sri Lanka3.2+1.1 pts
121Iran3.2+0.5 pts
122Japan3.1-0.2 pts
123Macao3.1+0.1 pts
124San Marino3-0.1 pts
125Romania3-0.1 pts
126Saint Kitts and Nevis3+0.5 pts
127Kazakhstan3+0.2 pts
128Niger3-1.5 pts
129Guatemala2.9-0.1 pts
130Singapore2.9-0 pts
131Turks and Caicos Islands2.9-0.2 pts
132Azerbaijan2.9-0 pts
133Benin2.9-0.3 pts
134Bahrain2.8+0.2 pts
135Puerto Rico2.8-0.6 pts
136Laos2.80 pts
137Armenia2.8-0 pts
138Angola2.8-0.7 pts
139Madagascar2.7+0.5 pts
140Pakistan2.7+0.3 pts
141Gabon2.7-0.2 pts
142Mali2.6-0.6 pts
143Bahamas2.6+0.3 pts
144Cameroon2.6-0.1 pts
145Guinea2.50 pts
146Chad2.40 pts
147Lebanon2.2n/a
148Antigua and Barbuda2.2+0.2 pts
149Uganda2.1-0.2 pts
150Democratic Republic of the Congo2.1-0.1 pts
151Liberia2.1-0 pts
152Bermuda2+0.5 pts
153Gambia2-0.1 pts
154Mauritania1.9-0.9 pts
155Sierra Leone1.8-1.4 pts
156Central African Republic1.8-0.2 pts
157South Sudan1.6+0.1 pts
158Haiti1.4-0.5 pts
159Monaco1.4n/a
160Bangladesh1.3-0.6 pts
161Indonesia1.2-2.4 pts
162Papua New Guinea0.9-0.8 pts
163Nigeria0.4-0 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

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.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 40 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2016 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

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) (Countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2016) [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), Countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2016. 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/rankings/education-spending-gdp/countries?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2026. Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS). Countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2016. 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/rankings/education-spending-gdp/countries?period=2016.

Harvard

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS), Countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2016 [Dataset]. Via World Bank, World Development Indicators. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/education-spending-gdp/countries?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{unesco_countries_by_government_spending_2016,
  author = {{UNESCO Institute for Statistics}},
  title = {{Government expenditure on education, total, \% of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS): Countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2016}},
  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/rankings/education-spending-gdp/countries?period=2016. 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): Countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2016
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/rankings/education-spending-gdp/countries?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org).
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/education-spending-gdp/countries?period=2016.
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  -
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Questions

Which country has the highest government spending on education, share of GDP?

Micronesia, with 13.8% of GDP in 2016, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Which country has the lowest government spending on education, share of GDP?

Nigeria, with 0.4% of GDP in 2016.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 40 countries have no value for 2016 and are not ranked.

Government spending on education, share of GDP: other rankings

Countries: more rankings