EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP
Sweden had the highest government spending on education, share of GDP of 25 EU countries in 2018, at 7.7% of GDP. Ireland had the lowest, at 3.3% of GDP. The median was 4.6% of GDP. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2018
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2018 | Change on 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 7.7 | +0.1 pts |
| 2 | Denmark | 7.3 | -0 pts |
| 3 | Belgium | 6.4 | -0.1 pts |
| 4 | Finland | 6.3 | -0.1 pts |
| 5 | France | 5.4 | -0 pts |
| 6 | Netherlands | 5.3 | +0.2 pts |
| 7 | Austria | 5.3 | -0.1 pts |
| 8 | Estonia | 5.1 | +0.3 pts |
| 9 | Slovenia | 5 | +0.2 pts |
| 10 | Germany | 4.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 11 | Portugal | 4.7 | -0.3 pts |
| 12 | Hungary | 4.6 | -0 pts |
| 13 | Poland | 4.6 | 0 pts |
| 14 | Latvia | 4.4 | -0.1 pts |
| 15 | Italy | 4.2 | +0.2 pts |
| 16 | Czechia | 4.2 | +0.5 pts |
| 17 | Spain | 4.2 | -0 pts |
| 18 | Bulgaria | 4.1 | -0 pts |
| 19 | Slovakia | 3.9 | 0 pts |
| 20 | Croatia | 3.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 21 | Lithuania | 3.9 | 0 pts |
| 22 | Luxembourg | 3.7 | +0.2 pts |
| 23 | Greece | 3.6 | +0.1 pts |
| 24 | Romania | 3.3 | +0.2 pts |
| 25 | Ireland | 3.3 | -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. 2 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2018 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.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 7.7% of GDP in 2018, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest government spending on education, share of GDP?
Ireland, with 3.3% of GDP in 2018.
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. 2 EU countries have no value for 2018 and are not ranked.