Latest finance indicators shed light on education spending
In the context of the global economic situation, the latest finance indicators* help shed light on the funding of education during difficult times. More than 140 countries monitor public spending on education as a share of GDP. Since 2008 - the beginning of the economic downturn – one-half of countries reporting data allocated more than 4.7% of their GDP to education.
Developing countries have relatively good coverage of their education expenditure. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, more than two-thirds of countries reported data for public spending on education for at least one year between 2008 and 2011. Reporting is even higher in South West and Central Asia, where 78% of countries have recent data on education spending.
Finance data show that many developing countries make basic education a priority. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, all countries with available data allocated close to or more than one-half of their education spending to primary and lower secondary education. In East Asia and the Pacific, however, the number of countries with data on education spending is quite low. Only 19 countries of 34 in the region have information on the funding of their education systems.
Visit the Data Centre to access all updated education indicators, including finance data.
*The reference data set for the 2010 school year was released in May 2012.