Expenditure on primary education (% of government expenditure on education) - Country Ranking

Definition: Expenditure on primary education is expressed as a percentage of total general government expenditure on education. General government usually refers to local, regional and central governments.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (http://uis.unesco.org/)

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Lebanon 80.93 1996
2 Nauru 67.49 2002
3 Zambia 67.35 2017
4 Timor-Leste 64.89 2014
5 Guinea-Bissau 64.42 2013
6 Togo 64.06 2016
7 Guinea 61.65 2018
8 Dem. Rep. Congo 61.59 2013
9 Uganda 59.16 2014
10 Haiti 58.92 1991
11 Dominican Republic 58.68 2007
12 Burkina Faso 57.87 2015
13 Albania 57.61 2017
14 Solomon Islands 56.29 1991
15 Tuvalu 56.22 1997
16 Lesotho 55.96 2018
17 Mauritania 55.90 2016
18 The Gambia 55.84 2015
19 São Tomé and Principe 55.82 2014
20 Guatemala 55.60 2018
21 Philippines 54.98 2009
22 Comoros 54.61 2015
23 North Macedonia 54.51 1996
24 Nepal 53.77 2015
25 Central African Republic 53.26 2010
26 Eswatini 50.79 2014
27 Benin 49.81 2015
28 Mozambique 49.25 2013
29 Tanzania 49.15 2014
30 Honduras 48.90 2013
31 Cambodia 48.45 2014
32 Niger 48.12 2017
33 Zimbabwe 47.77 2014
34 Madagascar 47.35 2012
35 Côte d'Ivoire 47.29 2018
36 Chad 46.70 2012
37 Iraq 46.17 1989
38 El Salvador 46.16 2018
39 Cayman Islands 45.97 2006
40 Dominica 45.83 2015
41 Burundi 45.43 2013
42 Serbia 45.34 2015
43 Sudan 45.08 1981
44 Palau 44.86 2001
45 Mali 44.67 2017
46 Vanuatu 44.64 2017
47 Bangladesh 44.60 2012
48 Tonga 44.44 2004
49 Afghanistan 44.19 2017
50 Malawi 43.92 2016
51 Somalia 43.81 1973
52 Algeria 43.61 1980
53 Turkey 43.03 1995
54 Djibouti 42.84 2016
55 Indonesia 42.60 2015
56 Liberia 42.39 2018
57 Jordan 42.24 2018
58 Antigua and Barbuda 41.61 2009
59 Thailand 41.11 2013
60 Lao PDR 40.64 2014
61 Nicaragua 39.81 2010
62 Trinidad and Tobago 39.18 2003
63 Libya 39.05 1977
64 Israel 38.91 2016
65 Syrian Arab Republic 38.87 2009
66 South Africa 38.75 2018
67 Liechtenstein 38.62 2011
68 Fiji 38.60 2013
69 Cabo Verde 38.09 2017
70 Morocco 37.73 2009
71 Ireland 37.32 2016
72 Samoa 37.05 2016
73 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 36.90 2018
74 Paraguay 36.44 2016
75 Kenya 36.34 2015
76 Myanmar 36.33 2019
77 Japan 35.12 2016
78 St. Lucia 35.07 2018
79 Equatorial Guinea 34.93 1998
80 San Marino 34.44 2017
81 Georgia 34.34 2012
82 Kiribati 34.33 2001
83 Jamaica 34.16 2018
84 Malaysia 34.04 2018
85 Peru 33.88 2018
86 Cameroon 33.88 2013
87 Iran 33.07 2018
88 Australia 32.99 2016
89 Bahrain 32.99 2015
90 Oman 32.95 2009
91 Cyprus 32.75 2016
92 Colombia 32.71 2018
93 China 32.60 1999
94 Mexico 32.45 2016
95 United Kingdom 32.33 2016
96 Mongolia 32.22 2017
97 Latvia 32.02 2016
98 Bhutan 31.97 2014
99 Poland 31.70 2016
100 Korea 31.70 2016
101 Senegal 31.67 2018
102 Luxembourg 31.60 2015
103 Venezuela 31.55 2009
104 Angola 31.43 2006
105 Belize 31.38 2017
106 Grenada 31.32 2017
107 Pakistan 31.05 2015
108 Sierra Leone 31.02 2018
109 Congo 31.00 2010
110 United States 30.96 2014
111 Seychelles 30.57 2016
112 Guyana 30.56 2012
113 Papua New Guinea 30.07 1977
114 Sri Lanka 29.86 2018
115 Vietnam 29.69 2013
116 Barbados 29.61 2016
117 Argentina 29.59 2017
118 Gabon 29.24 2014
119 Cuba 29.04 2010
120 Portugal 28.96 2015
121 Switzerland 28.95 2016
122 Slovenia 28.77 2016
123 Costa Rica 28.67 2018
124 Rwanda 28.56 2018
125 India 28.40 2013
126 Iceland 27.94 2016
127 Chile 27.91 2017
128 Tunisia 27.66 2008
129 Ethiopia 27.45 2015
130 Denmark 27.21 2014
131 Greece 27.01 1991
132 Spain 26.94 2016
133 New Zealand 26.13 2016
134 Brazil 25.62 2015
135 Estonia 24.97 2016
136 Macao SAR, China 24.80 2003
137 Malta 24.27 2015
138 Sweden 24.11 2016
139 Italy 23.95 2016
140 Belgium 23.81 2016
141 Panama 23.47 2011
142 Moldova 23.33 2018
143 Ecuador 23.26 2015
144 Uruguay 23.12 2017
145 Eritrea 23.07 2004
146 Norway 22.84 2016
147 Mauritius 22.83 2018
148 Slovak Republic 22.22 2016
149 Hong Kong SAR, China 22.08 2018
150 Puerto Rico 22.00 2014
151 Singapore 21.98 2013
152 Ghana 21.70 2014
153 Ukraine 21.68 2017
154 Andorra 21.42 2018
155 St. Kitts and Nevis 21.38 2015
156 Netherlands 21.22 2016
157 Finland 20.51 2016
158 Kuwait 20.42 2006
159 France 20.10 1999
160 Bulgaria 19.70 2013
161 Brunei 19.52 2016
162 Armenia 19.37 2017
163 Lithuania 18.89 2016
164 Botswana 17.82 2009
165 Qatar 17.64 2009
166 Namibia 16.87 2014
167 Austria 16.60 2016
168 Nigeria 16.35 1975
169 Hungary 16.22 2016
170 Czech Republic 13.24 2016
171 Germany 12.92 2016
172 Monaco 12.70 2016
173 Romania 12.50 2016
174 Kazakhstan 0.66 2018

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Development Relevance: The share of government expenditure for a specific education level allows an assessment of the priority a government assigns to a level of education relative to other levels. Enrolment and the relative costs per student between different levels of education should be also taken into account.

Limitations and Exceptions: Data disaggregated by level of education are estimates in some instances. It is often difficult to separate lower from upper secondary education expenditure, or pre-primary from primary.

Other Notes: Data retrieved via API in March 2019. For detailed information on the observation level (e.g. National Estimation, UIS Estimation, or Category not applicable), please visit UIS.Stat (http://data.uis.unesco.org/).

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The share of expenditure on primary education to total government expenditure on education is calculated by dividing government expenditure on primary education by total government expenditure on education (all levels combined), and multiplying by 100. Aggregate data are based on World Bank estimates. Data on education are collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics from official responses to its annual education survey. All the data are mapped to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) to ensure the comparability of education programs at the international level. The current version was formally adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2011. The reference years reflect the school year for which the data are presented. In some countries the school year spans two calendar years (for example, from September 2010 to June 2011); in these cases the reference year refers to the year in which the school year ended (2011 in the example).

Aggregation method: Median

Periodicity: Annual