Monitoring SDG 4: Education finance

All GEM Report resources related to education financing

2023 Education Finance Watch

Total global education spending in 2021 as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) declined in all country income groups, except LIC.

Aid to education fell by 7 percent, from US$19.3 billion in 2020 to US$17.8 billion in 2021, because of the reduction in general budget support, which returned to pre-COVID levels.

There remains an annual finance gap of almost $100 billion per year for countries to reach their education targets by 2030.

Families meanwhile spend significant portions of their funds on education; more than one-third of total education spending in LIC and lower-middle-income countries (LMIC) is from households.

GEM Report

SDG 4 Targets	GEM Report monitoring chapters	Most recent statistics	GEM Report Blogs
TARGET 4.B: SCHOLARSHIPS	2023 GEM Report 2021/2 GEM Report 2020 GEM Report 2019 GEM Report 2017/8 GEM Report 2016 GEM Report	4.B statistics	View blogs
FINANCE	2023 GEM Report 2021/2 GEM Report 2020 GEM Report 2019 GEM Report 2017/8 GEM Report 2016 GEM Report	Finance statistics	View blogs

Resources

Education progress

on education finance

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Country profiles

on equitable financing

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SDG4 Benchmarks

on finance

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Statistics

Aid tables by country

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Blogs

on education finance

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One in three countries did not reach either of the finance benchmarks set in the Education 2030 Framework for Action

Policy focuses

2017/8 Report	2019 Report	2020 Report	2021/2 Report	2023 Report
Scholarship aid flows are becoming less concentrated Poor countries need to increase tax revenue to fund education Education spending should focus on equity	Scholarships for sub-Saharan African students are increasing in number but need to be inclusive Donors are developing approaches to disability-inclusive education Households show gender bias in education spending	Funding schools where immigrant students are concentrated Using aid as a tool to manage migration A turning point in the financing of refugee education Remittances boost household education spending Mobile students, mobile policies? Academic exchange programmes in europe and Asia	Accountability mechanisms for international scholarship programmes are difficult to develop Internationally mobile students need protection Corruption in education – robbing education systems of their potential Experimenting with results-based payments for effectiveness and accountability in aid Drawing lessons from the health sector to introduce national education accounts	Can countries afford the cost of digital transformation in education? Some fear a return to the debt crisis of the 1980s