EU countries by government spending on education, share of government spending
Sweden had the highest government spending on education, share of government spending of 26 EU countries in 2021, at 15.5%. Italy had the lowest, at 7.4%. The median was 10.6%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2021
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2021 (%) | Change on 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 15.5 | +0.2 pts |
| 2 | Denmark | 14.1 | +0.2 pts |
| 3 | Malta | 12.5 | |
| 4 | Estonia | 12.4 | +0.2 pts |
| 5 | Ireland | 12.3 | +0.4 pts |
| 6 | Bulgaria | 12.3 | +0.3 pts |
| 7 | Finland | 11.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 8 | Cyprus | 11.9 | -0.2 pts |
| 9 | Netherlands | 11.7 | +0.6 pts |
| 10 | Belgium | 11.6 | +0.1 pts |
| 11 | Lithuania | 11.4 | +0.8 pts |
| 12 | Slovenia | 10.8 | +0.3 pts |
| 13 | Latvia | 10.7 | -1 pts |
| 14 | Poland | 10.6 | +0.5 pts |
| 15 | Germany | 10.6 | -0.2 pts |
| 16 | Slovakia | 10.5 | -0.1 pts |
| 17 | Czechia | 10.3 | +0.3 pts |
| 18 | Portugal | 10.1 | +0.2 pts |
| 19 | Austria | 9.8 | 0 pts |
| 20 | Spain | 9.7 | +0.3 pts |
| 21 | Hungary | 9.7 | +1.6 pts |
| 22 | France | 9.1 | -0.1 pts |
| 23 | Romania | 9 | -0.4 pts |
| 24 | Luxembourg | 8.7 | +0.5 pts |
| 25 | Croatia | 8.5 | +0.3 pts |
| 26 | Italy | 7.4 | -0.3 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 EU countries are compared on one definition. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2021 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 15.5% in 2021, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest government spending on education, share of government spending?
Italy, with 7.4% in 2021.
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. 1 EU countries have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.