EU countries by government spending on education, share of government spending, 2022
Sweden had the highest government spending on education, share of government spending of 25 EU countries in 2022, at 15.3%. Greece had the lowest, at 6.4%. The median was 10.7%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2022
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2022 (%) | Change on 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 15.3 | -0.3 pts |
| 2 | Denmark | 14.2 | +0.1 pts |
| 3 | Estonia | 13 | +0.6 pts |
| 4 | Malta | 12.5 | 0 pts |
| 5 | Cyprus | 12.5 | +0.6 pts |
| 6 | Finland | 12.1 | +0.2 pts |
| 7 | Belgium | 12 | +0.4 pts |
| 8 | Bulgaria | 12 | -0.3 pts |
| 9 | Netherlands | 12 | +0.3 pts |
| 10 | Lithuania | 11.7 | +0.4 pts |
| 11 | Slovenia | 11.1 | +0.3 pts |
| 12 | Slovakia | 10.8 | +0.3 pts |
| 13 | Germany | 10.7 | +0.1 pts |
| 14 | Portugal | 10.4 | +0.3 pts |
| 15 | Czechia | 10 | -0.3 pts |
| 16 | Poland | 10 | -0.6 pts |
| 17 | Austria | 10 | +0.2 pts |
| 18 | Latvia | 9.9 | -0.8 pts |
| 19 | Spain | 9.9 | +0.2 pts |
| 20 | France | 9.1 | 0 pts |
| 21 | Romania | 8.8 | -0.2 pts |
| 22 | Luxembourg | 8.5 | -0.2 pts |
| 23 | Hungary | 7.8 | -1.9 pts |
| 24 | Italy | 7.4 | -0 pts |
| 25 | Greece | 6.4 |
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 EU countries are compared on one definition. 2 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2022 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.Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank EU 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","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=education_expenditure_govt_share&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10Questions
Which EU country has the highest government spending on education, share of government spending?
Sweden, with 15.3% in 2022, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest government spending on education, share of government spending?
Greece, with 6.4% in 2022.
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. 2 EU countries have no value for 2022 and are not ranked.