EU countries by spending per student, primary to tertiary

Luxembourg had the highest spending per student, primary to tertiary of 22 EU countries in 2017, at 23,218 USD at PPP. Greece had the lowest, at 5,294 USD at PPP. The median was 10,315 USD at PPP. Source: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Highest23,218Luxembourg

Lowest5,294Greece

Median10,31522 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2017

Under 7,800
7,800 to 9,900
9,900 to 11K
11K to 14K
14K and over
No data

USD at PPP, 2017. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: 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). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2017

USD at PPP. Source: 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). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2017 USD at PPP	Change on 2016
1	Luxembourg	23,218	+4.6%
2	Austria	16,221	+1%
3	Sweden	14,749	+2.4%
4	Denmark	14,289	+2.8%
5	Belgium	14,211	+4.1%
6	Netherlands	13,745	+4.4%
7	Germany	13,452	+4.6%
8	France	12,022	+3.8%
9	Finland	11,635	-1.2%
10	Ireland	10,446	n/a
11	Italy	10,422	+10%
12	Portugal	10,207	+7.3%
13	Spain	10,093	+4.6%
14	Slovenia	9,853	+6.3%
15	Estonia	8,907	+7%
16	Czechia	8,699	+12.2%
17	Poland	8,118	+8.2%
18	Hungary	7,701	-1.1%
19	Slovakia	7,362	+1.6%
20	Latvia	6,634	+2.3%
21	Lithuania	6,188	+4.2%
22	Greece	5,294	n/a

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 EU countries are compared on one definition. 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

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

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) (EU 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), EU 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/eu-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). EU 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/eu-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), EU 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/eu-countries?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{organisation_eu_countries_by_spending_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): EU 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/eu-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): EU 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/eu-countries?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/spending-per-student/eu-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  -

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Questions

Which EU 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 EU country has the lowest spending per student, primary to tertiary?

Greece, with 5,294 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.

Spending per student, primary to tertiary: other rankings

Countries