EU countries by government spending on education, share of government spending
Sweden had the highest government spending on education, share of government spending of 27 EU countries in 2017, at 15.5%. Greece had the lowest, at 7.1%. The median was 11%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2017
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2017 (%) | Change on 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 15.5 | +0.1 pts |
| 2 | Cyprus | 14.8 | -0.6 pts |
| 3 | Denmark | 14.6 | -0.2 pts |
| 4 | Ireland | 13.4 | +0.1 pts |
| 5 | Malta | 13.3 | -0.7 pts |
| 6 | Bulgaria | 12.7 | +1.1 pts |
| 7 | Estonia | 12.5 | -0.5 pts |
| 8 | Belgium | 12.3 | +0.2 pts |
| 9 | Finland | 12.1 | -0.4 pts |
| 10 | Latvia | 12 | -0.9 pts |
| 11 | Netherlands | 11.9 | -0.4 pts |
| 12 | Lithuania | 11.4 | -0.2 pts |
| 13 | Portugal | 11.1 | |
| 14 | Poland | 11 | -0.2 pts |
| 15 | Austria | 10.8 | -0 pts |
| 16 | Slovenia | 10.8 | +0.5 pts |
| 17 | Germany | 10.7 | +0.1 pts |
| 18 | Spain | 10.2 | +0.2 pts |
| 19 | Romania | 10.1 | +0.5 pts |
| 20 | Hungary | 9.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 21 | Slovakia | 9.9 | +0.4 pts |
| 22 | Czechia | 9.8 | -4.2 pts |
| 23 | France | 9.5 | |
| 24 | Croatia | 8.8 | |
| 25 | Luxembourg | 8.4 | |
| 26 | Italy | 8.3 | +0.5 pts |
| 27 | Greece | 7.1 |
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. 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
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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 15.5% in 2017, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest government spending on education, share of government spending?
Greece, with 7.1% 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 government expenditure (SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-12.