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 2019, at 7.7% of GDP. Ireland had the lowest, at 3.2% of GDP. The median was 4.6% of GDP. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Highest7.7Sweden

Lowest3.2Ireland

Median4.627 EU countries

All EU countries, 2019

% 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

Rank	EU countries	2019 % of GDP	Change on 2018
1	Sweden	7.7	-0 pts
2	Denmark	7.3	-0.1 pts
3	Finland	6.5	+0.1 pts
4	Belgium	6.3	-0.1 pts
5	France	5.4	-0.1 pts
6	Austria	5.2	-0 pts
7	Estonia	5.2	0 pts
8	Cyprus	5.2	n/a
9	Netherlands	5.1	-0.2 pts
10	Germany	5	+0.1 pts
11	Slovenia	4.9	-0 pts
12	Malta	4.8	n/a
13	Portugal	4.6	-0.1 pts
14	Poland	4.6	+0.1 pts
15	Latvia	4.6	+0.2 pts
16	Czechia	4.5	+0.3 pts
17	Slovakia	4.3	+0.3 pts
18	Bulgaria	4.2	+0.2 pts
19	Spain	4.2	+0.1 pts
20	Hungary	4.2	-0.4 pts
21	Italy	4.1	-0.2 pts
22	Croatia	3.9	0 pts
23	Lithuania	3.9	+0.1 pts
24	Luxembourg	3.7	+0.1 pts
25	Romania	3.6	+0.2 pts
26	Greece	3.6	-0 pts
27	Ireland	3.2	-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.

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) (EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2019) [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), EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2019. 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/eu-countries?period=2019. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2026. Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS). EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2019. 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/eu-countries?period=2019.

Harvard

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) Government expenditure on education, total, % of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS), EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2019 [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/eu-countries?period=2019 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{unesco_eu_countries_by_government_2019,
  author = {{UNESCO Institute for Statistics}},
  title = {{Government expenditure on education, total, \% of GDP (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS): EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2019}},
  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/eu-countries?period=2019. 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): EU countries by government spending on education, share of GDP, 2019
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/eu-countries?period=2019
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/eu-countries?period=2019.
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 EU country has the highest government spending on education, share of GDP?

Sweden, with 7.7% of GDP in 2019, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

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

Ireland, with 3.2% of GDP in 2019.

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.

Government spending on education, share of GDP: other rankings

Countries