Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary
Luxembourg had the highest spending per student, primary to tertiary of 33 countries in 2017, at 23,218 USD at PPP. Mexico had the lowest, at 3,305 USD at PPP. The median was 10,422 USD at PPP. Source: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
All countries, 2017
Full ranking
| Rank | Countries | 2017 | Change on 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | 23,218 | +4.6% |
| 2 | United States | 17,993 | +4.3% |
| 3 | Austria | 16,221 | +1% |
| 4 | Sweden | 14,749 | +2.4% |
| 5 | Canada | 14,338 | +0.6% |
| 6 | Denmark | 14,289 | +2.8% |
| 7 | Belgium | 14,211 | +4.1% |
| 8 | United Kingdom | 14,158 | +4.5% |
| 9 | Netherlands | 13,745 | +4.4% |
| 10 | Iceland | 13,737 | +10.7% |
| 11 | Germany | 13,452 | +4.6% |
| 12 | France | 12,022 | +3.8% |
| 13 | South Korea | 11,969 | +5.3% |
| 14 | Japan | 11,927 | +1.4% |
| 15 | Finland | 11,635 | -1.2% |
| 16 | Ireland | 10,446 | |
| 17 | Italy | 10,422 | +10% |
| 18 | Portugal | 10,207 | +7.3% |
| 19 | Spain | 10,093 | +4.6% |
| 20 | Slovenia | 9,853 | +6.3% |
| 21 | New Zealand | 9,483 | +4.4% |
| 22 | Israel | 9,463 | +4.6% |
| 23 | Estonia | 8,907 | +7% |
| 24 | Czechia | 8,699 | +12.2% |
| 25 | Poland | 8,118 | +8.2% |
| 26 | Hungary | 7,701 | -1.1% |
| 27 | Slovakia | 7,362 | +1.6% |
| 28 | Chile | 6,911 | +9.5% |
| 29 | Latvia | 6,634 | +2.3% |
| 30 | Lithuania | 6,188 | +4.2% |
| 31 | Türkiye | 5,416 | +0.1% |
| 32 | Greece | 5,294 | |
| 33 | Mexico | 3,305 | -11.5% |
Other periods
About this ranking
Total expenditure on educational institutions from public, private and international sources per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary education (ISCED 2011 levels 1 to 8), in US dollars at current prices converted with purchasing power parities for GDP.
Includes research and development spending at universities. Countries do not report every year, and the latest year usually lags by about three years.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 4 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2017 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html
Citation styles
APA 7
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2026). OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD) (Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP
MLA 9
OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD), Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary, 2017. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 12 Oct. 2026, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/spending-per-student/countries?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2026. OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD). Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/spending-per-student/countries?period=2017.
Harvard
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2026) OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD), Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/spending-per-student/countries?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{organisation_countries_by_spending_per_2017,
author = {{Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development}},
title = {{OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD\_EAG\_UOE\_FIN@DF\_UOE\_INDIC\_FIN\_PERSTUD): Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary, 2017}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/spending-per-student/countries?period=2017. Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD\_EAG\_UOE\_FIN@DF\_UOE\_INDIC\_FIN\_PERSTUD). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ\&df[id]=DSD\_EAG\_UOE\_FIN\%40DF\_UOE\_INDIC\_FIN\_PERSTUD\&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
TI - OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD): Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary, 2017
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
DB - Invokely
UR - https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/spending-per-student/countries?period=2017
Y2 - 2026/10/12
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/spending-per-student/countries?period=2017.
N1 - Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN%40DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.
ER -
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 Countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"expenditure_per_student_usd_ppp","level":"country","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=expenditure_per_student_usd_ppp&level=country&limit=10
Questions
Which country has the highest spending per student, primary to tertiary?
Luxembourg, with 23,218 USD at PPP in 2017, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Which country has the lowest spending per student, primary to tertiary?
Mexico, with 3,305 USD at PPP in 2017.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Education at a Glance: total expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, primary to tertiary, US dollars at current prices and PPPs (DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_PERSTUD). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 4 countries have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.