Countries by government spending on education, share of government spending
Sierra Leone had the highest government spending on education, share of government spending of 163 countries in 2019, at 35%. Papua New Guinea had the lowest, at 3.6%. The median was 13.5%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Top 40 countries, 2019
Full ranking
| Rank | Countries | 2019 (%) | Change on 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Leone | 35 | +2.3 pts |
| 2 | Costa Rica | 32.6 | +6.5 pts |
| 3 | Namibia | 29.1 | +5.7 pts |
| 4 | Uzbekistan | 28.4 | +2.5 pts |
| 5 | Nicaragua | 23.9 | +1.2 pts |
| 6 | Guatemala | 23.8 | 0 pts |
| 7 | Turkmenistan | 23 | |
| 8 | Bolivia | 22.4 | +1.1 pts |
| 9 | Botswana | 22.3 | -0.2 pts |
| 10 | Dominican Republic | 22.3 | +0.2 pts |
| 11 | Belize | 22.2 | +0.1 pts |
| 12 | Burkina Faso | 21.7 | -1 pts |
| 13 | Morocco | 21.5 | -1 pts |
| 14 | Iran | 21.2 | +0.1 pts |
| 15 | Chile | 21.2 | -0.1 pts |
| 16 | Burundi | 21.2 | +1.7 pts |
| 17 | Ethiopia | 20.9 | -2.1 pts |
| 18 | Hong Kong | 20.3 | +1.5 pts |
| 19 | Côte d’Ivoire | 19.8 | +1.6 pts |
| 20 | South Africa | 19.6 | +0.7 pts |
| 21 | Singapore | 19.5 | -1.2 pts |
| 22 | Moldova | 19.5 | +1.9 pts |
| 23 | Aruba | 19.4 | -0.7 pts |
| 24 | Togo | 19.2 | -2.5 pts |
| 25 | Kenya | 19.1 | +0.1 pts |
| 26 | Mozambique | 19 | +2.6 pts |
| 27 | Benin | 18.9 | +1.2 pts |
| 28 | Mauritius | 18.7 | -0.6 pts |
| 29 | Eswatini | 18.5 | +1.3 pts |
| 30 | Tajikistan | 18.2 | +2.3 pts |
| 31 | Philippines | 18.2 | -0.5 pts |
| 32 | Micronesia | 18.1 | +1 pts |
| 33 | Bhutan | 18.1 | -3.8 pts |
| 34 | Madagascar | 18 | -1.9 pts |
| 35 | Kiribati | 17.9 | -2.7 pts |
| 36 | Peru | 17.7 | +0.6 pts |
| 37 | Tunisia | 17.6 | |
| 38 | Malaysia | 17.6 | -2 pts |
| 39 | São Tomé and Príncipe | 17.6 | -2.5 pts |
| 40 | Iceland | 17.4 | +0.2 pts |
| 41 | Jamaica | 17.3 | -1.3 pts |
| 42 | British Virgin Islands | 17.2 | +7 pts |
| 43 | Curaçao | 17 | 0 pts |
| 44 | Thailand | 17 | -0.2 pts |
| 45 | Republic of the Congo | 17 | +1.4 pts |
| 46 | Gambia | 16.9 | +4.4 pts |
| 47 | Fiji | 16.8 | +1.9 pts |
| 48 | Macao | 16.6 | +1.4 pts |
| 49 | Kyrgyzstan | 16.5 | -0.3 pts |
| 50 | Algeria | 16 | +0.4 pts |
| 51 | Israel | 15.7 | +0.2 pts |
| 52 | Sweden | 15.7 | +0.2 pts |
| 53 | Switzerland | 15.7 | +0.2 pts |
| 54 | Norway | 15.7 | -0.3 pts |
| 55 | Panama | 15.6 | -0.2 pts |
| 56 | Vietnam | 15.6 | -0.5 pts |
| 57 | Mali | 15.4 | -2.2 pts |
| 58 | Zambia | 15.3 | -1.8 pts |
| 59 | Suriname | 15.3 | +0.6 pts |
| 60 | Cape Verde | 15.2 | -2.4 pts |
| 61 | Uruguay | 15.1 | -0 pts |
| 62 | San Marino | 15.1 | +0.6 pts |
| 63 | Marshall Islands | 15 | -6.7 pts |
| 64 | North Korea | 15 | +0.1 pts |
| 65 | Cayman Islands | 15 | 0 pts |
| 66 | India | 14.8 | -1.8 pts |
| 67 | Senegal | 14.7 | -8 pts |
| 68 | Denmark | 14.6 | +0.2 pts |
| 69 | Tanzania | 14.3 | -6.2 pts |
| 70 | Ghana | 14.3 | -4.3 pts |
| 71 | Cuba | 14.2 | +1.6 pts |
| 72 | Chad | 14.2 | |
| 73 | Cameroon | 14.2 | -2.7 pts |
| 74 | Kazakhstan | 14.1 | +0.2 pts |
| 75 | Gabon | 14.1 | -0.5 pts |
| 76 | Saint Lucia | 14.1 | -0.2 pts |
| 77 | Barbados | 13.9 | -2.5 pts |
| 78 | Brazil | 13.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 79 | Puerto Rico | 13.8 | +3.5 pts |
| 80 | Malta | 13.8 | |
| 81 | United Arab Emirates | 13.6 | |
| 82 | United Kingdom | 13.5 | +0.2 pts |
| 83 | Ireland | 13.5 | +0.2 pts |
| 84 | New Zealand | 13.5 | -1.1 pts |
| 85 | Samoa | 13.4 | -1.5 pts |
| 86 | Albania | 13.4 | +2.6 pts |
| 87 | Georgia | 13.4 | +0.4 pts |
| 88 | Belarus | 13.3 | +0.6 pts |
| 89 | United States | 13.3 | +0.1 pts |
| 90 | Estonia | 13.2 | -0 pts |
| 91 | Ukraine | 13.1 | +0.4 pts |
| 92 | Oman | 13.1 | +1.1 pts |
| 93 | Niger | 13 | -3.3 pts |
| 94 | Tonga | 13 | +1.7 pts |
| 95 | Bahamas | 12.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 96 | Haiti | 12.9 | -1.6 pts |
| 97 | Kuwait | 12.9 | +0.7 pts |
| 98 | Cyprus | 12.8 | |
| 99 | Türkiye | 12.5 | -0 pts |
| 100 | Argentina | 12.5 | -0 pts |
| 101 | Guinea | 12.5 | -2.5 pts |
| 102 | Finland | 12.3 | +0.3 pts |
| 103 | Belgium | 12.2 | 0 pts |
| 104 | El Salvador | 12.2 | -0.9 pts |
| 105 | Cambodia | 12.1 | +2.2 pts |
| 106 | Nepal | 12.1 | -2 pts |
| 107 | Maldives | 12.1 | +0.7 pts |
| 108 | Netherlands | 12 | -0.4 pts |
| 109 | Latvia | 11.8 | +0.6 pts |
| 110 | Canada | 11.7 | -0.3 pts |
| 111 | Bulgaria | 11.7 | -0.1 pts |
| 112 | Pakistan | 11.6 | -0.6 pts |
| 113 | Lithuania | 11.4 | -0 pts |
| 114 | Slovenia | 11.3 | -0 pts |
| 115 | Poland | 11.2 | +0.1 pts |
| 116 | Seychelles | 11.1 | +0.6 pts |
| 117 | Czechia | 11.1 | +0.6 pts |
| 118 | Germany | 11 | +0.1 pts |
| 119 | Rwanda | 11 | +0.2 pts |
| 120 | Andorra | 10.9 | -2.6 pts |
| 121 | Portugal | 10.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 122 | Laos | 10.8 | -0.3 pts |
| 123 | Romania | 10.7 | +0.2 pts |
| 124 | Ecuador | 10.7 | |
| 125 | Austria | 10.7 | -0 pts |
| 126 | Slovakia | 10.5 | +0.6 pts |
| 127 | Zimbabwe | 10.5 | -8.7 pts |
| 128 | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.5 | -0.2 pts |
| 129 | Mongolia | 10.3 | -2.8 pts |
| 130 | Mauritania | 10.2 | |
| 131 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 10.1 | +0.5 pts |
| 132 | Spain | 10 | 0 pts |
| 133 | Central African Republic | 9.8 | +0.7 pts |
| 134 | Azerbaijan | 9.8 | +2.4 pts |
| 135 | Myanmar | 9.7 | -0.4 pts |
| 136 | France | 9.7 | +0.1 pts |
| 137 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 9.6 | -2.3 pts |
| 138 | Antigua and Barbuda | 9.5 | +2 pts |
| 139 | Indonesia | 9.3 | -0.8 pts |
| 140 | Jordan | 9.2 | -0 pts |
| 141 | Hungary | 9.2 | -0.9 pts |
| 142 | Croatia | 8.9 | +0.2 pts |
| 143 | Uganda | 8.9 | -2.4 pts |
| 144 | Bangladesh | 8.7 | -5.5 pts |
| 145 | Luxembourg | 8.7 | 0 pts |
| 146 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 8.6 | -1.5 pts |
| 147 | Qatar | 8.6 | |
| 148 | Serbia | 8.6 | -0.2 pts |
| 149 | Armenia | 8.6 | -0.1 pts |
| 150 | Bahrain | 8.6 | -0.7 pts |
| 151 | Italy | 8.4 | -0.4 pts |
| 152 | Dominica | 8.3 | -0.1 pts |
| 153 | Lebanon | 8.1 | +0.1 pts |
| 154 | Greece | 7.5 | +0.1 pts |
| 155 | Gibraltar | 7.4 | -0.4 pts |
| 156 | Timor-Leste | 6.9 | -1.1 pts |
| 157 | Angola | 6 | +0.3 pts |
| 158 | Nigeria | 5.9 | -0.1 pts |
| 159 | Monaco | 5 | |
| 160 | Nauru | 4.8 | -0.6 pts |
| 161 | Vanuatu | 4.5 | -15.7 pts |
| 162 | Somalia | 4.3 | +1.3 pts |
| 163 | Papua New Guinea | 3.6 | -5.6 pts |
Other periods
About this ranking
General government expenditure on education as a percentage of total general government expenditure on all sectors. Calculated and published by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
A share of the government budget, not of GDP; for that see education_expenditure_gdp. UIS divides by total government spending from IMF figures or, for some countries, from government budget documents, so a recent year can be revised. 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. 37 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2019 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 government expenditure (SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS). Retrieved through World Bank World Development Indicators (data.worldbank.org). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. UIS does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.
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Rank Countries by government spending on education, share of government spending using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"education_expenditure_govt_share","level":"country","limit":10}
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Questions
Which country has the highest government spending on education, share of government spending?
Sierra Leone, with 35% in 2019, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which country has the lowest government spending on education, share of government spending?
Papua New Guinea, with 3.6% 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 government expenditure (SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 37 countries have no value for 2019 and are not ranked.