EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP
Sweden had the highest government spending on education, share of GDP of 27 EU countries in 2017, at 7.6% of GDP. Romania had the lowest, at 3.1% of GDP. The median was 4.5% of GDP. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2017
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2017 | Change on 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 7.6 | -0 pts |
| 2 | Denmark | 7.4 | -0.3 pts |
| 3 | Belgium | 6.4 | -0 pts |
| 4 | Finland | 6.4 | -0.5 pts |
| 5 | Cyprus | 5.7 | -0.4 pts |
| 6 | France | 5.5 | |
| 7 | Austria | 5.4 | -0.1 pts |
| 8 | Netherlands | 5.1 | -0.3 pts |
| 9 | Portugal | 5 | |
| 10 | Estonia | 4.9 | -0.2 pts |
| 11 | Slovenia | 4.8 | -0 pts |
| 12 | Germany | 4.8 | 0 pts |
| 13 | Hungary | 4.6 | 0 pts |
| 14 | Poland | 4.5 | -0.1 pts |
| 15 | Latvia | 4.5 | -0.3 pts |
| 16 | Malta | 4.3 | -0.6 pts |
| 17 | Spain | 4.2 | -0 pts |
| 18 | Bulgaria | 4.1 | +0.3 pts |
| 19 | Italy | 4 | +0.2 pts |
| 20 | Slovakia | 3.9 | 0 pts |
| 21 | Croatia | 3.9 | |
| 22 | Lithuania | 3.8 | -0.2 pts |
| 23 | Czechia | 3.8 | -1.7 pts |
| 24 | Luxembourg | 3.5 | |
| 25 | Greece | 3.5 | |
| 26 | Ireland | 3.4 | -0.3 pts |
| 27 | Romania | 3.1 | +0.1 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 EU countries are compared on one definition. 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.Use this data in your AI agent
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Rank EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"education_expenditure_gdp","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=education_expenditure_gdp&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10Questions
Which EU country has the highest government spending on education, share of GDP?
Sweden, with 7.6% of GDP in 2017, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest government spending on education, share of GDP?
Romania, with 3.1% of GDP in 2017.
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.