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

Definition: Expenditure on tertiary 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 Libya 52.73 1999
2 Namibia 50.60 2014
3 Ethiopia 47.85 2015
4 Sierra Leone 46.36 2018
5 Ecuador 43.51 2015
6 Nigeria 43.06 1975
7 Botswana 41.51 2009
8 Papua New Guinea 40.43 1977
9 Egypt 39.62 1996
10 Gabon 37.83 2014
11 Macao SAR, China 37.12 2017
12 Puerto Rico 36.78 2014
13 Greece 36.10 2005
14 Canada 35.60 2011
15 Singapore 35.28 2013
16 Bangladesh 33.28 2016
17 Senegal 32.84 2018
18 Kuwait 32.60 2006
19 Austria 32.49 2016
20 Netherlands 31.93 2016
21 Eritrea 31.90 2004
22 Turkey 31.90 2006
23 Chad 31.70 2013
24 Liberia 31.56 2012
25 Denmark 30.68 2014
26 Equatorial Guinea 30.13 1998
27 Serbia 29.93 2017
28 Hong Kong SAR, China 29.39 2018
29 Lebanon 28.74 2013
30 Barbados 28.54 2017
31 India 28.53 2013
32 Iran 28.24 2018
33 United States 27.50 2014
34 Central African Republic 27.29 2011
35 Estonia 27.12 2016
36 Algeria 26.97 2008
37 Oman 26.88 2009
38 Australia 26.82 2016
39 Norway 26.72 2016
40 Finland 26.54 2016
41 Nicaragua 26.05 2010
42 Switzerland 26.00 2016
43 Germany 25.99 2016
44 United Kingdom 25.62 2016
45 Malta 25.33 2015
46 Chile 25.15 2017
47 Cuba 25.12 2007
48 Ukraine 24.99 2017
49 Uruguay 24.80 2017
50 Bahrain 24.40 2013
51 Burundi 24.23 2013
52 Syrian Arab Republic 24.22 2009
53 Sweden 24.09 2016
54 China 23.98 1999
55 Tunisia 23.94 2015
56 Dem. Rep. Congo 23.81 2015
57 Romania 23.78 2016
58 New Zealand 23.74 2016
59 Paraguay 23.33 2016
60 Colombia 23.31 2018
61 Niger 23.26 2017
62 Costa Rica 23.14 2018
63 Malawi 23.11 2016
64 Poland 22.84 2016
65 Jordan 22.75 2018
66 Venezuela 22.60 2009
67 Fiji 22.56 2013
68 Iraq 22.32 1989
69 Belgium 22.28 2016
70 Panama 22.24 2011
71 Benin 22.15 2015
72 Pakistan 22.11 2017
73 Argentina 22.08 2017
74 Croatia 21.86 2013
75 Spain 21.79 2016
76 Tonga 21.72 2004
77 Seychelles 21.64 2016
78 Russia 21.61 2016
79 Brazil 21.45 2015
80 Tanzania 21.40 2014
81 Malaysia 21.35 2018
82 Slovak Republic 21.30 2016
83 Mexico 21.09 2016
84 Cyprus 20.78 2016
85 Sri Lanka 20.74 2018
86 Palau 20.66 2001
87 Sudan 20.61 1981
88 Lithuania 20.52 2016
89 Korea 20.45 2016
90 Morocco 20.18 2009
91 Iceland 19.91 2016
92 Rwanda 19.82 2018
93 Japan 19.80 2016
94 Slovenia 19.74 2016
95 Jamaica 19.60 2018
96 Ireland 19.58 2016
97 Italy 19.12 2016
98 Brunei 18.89 2016
99 Albania 18.85 2017
100 Portugal 18.30 2015
101 Ghana 18.27 2014
102 Togo 17.74 2017
103 Mauritania 17.73 2016
104 France 17.58 1999
105 Guinea 17.30 2018
106 Mali 17.29 2017
107 Cabo Verde 17.15 2017
108 Saudi Arabia 16.94 1998
109 Zimbabwe 16.83 2014
110 Djibouti 16.50 2010
111 Belarus 16.48 2017
112 Azerbaijan 16.40 2017
113 Uganda 16.30 2014
114 Hungary 16.08 2016
115 Latvia 16.04 2016
116 Afghanistan 15.95 2015
117 Bulgaria 15.92 2013
118 Indonesia 15.80 2015
119 Peru 15.77 2018
120 Thailand 15.55 2013
121 St. Kitts and Nevis 15.36 2015
122 South Africa 15.25 2018
123 Israel 15.16 2016
124 North Macedonia 15.01 2002
125 Vietnam 15.01 2013
126 Myanmar 14.63 2019
127 Dominican Republic 14.54 2007
128 Côte d'Ivoire 14.03 2018
129 Guatemala 13.89 2018
130 Lao PDR 13.81 2014
131 Honduras 13.69 2015
132 Mozambique 13.69 2013
133 Solomon Islands 13.66 1991
134 Burkina Faso 13.65 2015
135 Grenada 13.58 2017
136 Eswatini 13.33 2014
137 Luxembourg 13.10 2015
138 Kenya 13.07 2015
139 Armenia 12.99 2017
140 Czech Republic 12.60 2016
141 Philippines 11.96 2009
142 Moldova 11.90 2018
143 Trinidad and Tobago 11.51 1990
144 The Gambia 11.33 2015
145 Congo 10.87 2010
146 Nepal 10.80 2015
147 Comoros 10.41 2015
148 Bhutan 10.33 2014
149 Cameroon 10.21 2013
150 Haiti 10.16 1991
151 Georgia 10.08 2017
152 Tajikistan 9.95 2015
153 São Tomé and Principe 9.60 2014
154 Belize 9.47 2017
155 Kiribati 9.44 1974
156 Kazakhstan 9.38 2018
157 Turkmenistan 9.23 2012
158 Samoa 9.18 2016
159 El Salvador 9.17 2018
160 Liechtenstein 9.09 2007
161 Zambia 8.92 2017
162 Dominica 8.86 2015
163 Angola 8.70 2006
164 Qatar 7.61 1978
165 Lesotho 7.41 2018
166 Antigua and Barbuda 7.35 2009
167 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 7.01 2010
168 San Marino 6.83 2017
169 Mauritius 6.42 2018
170 Mongolia 6.41 2017
171 Cambodia 6.10 2013
172 Vanuatu 5.86 2008
173 Andorra 5.64 2018
174 Guyana 5.06 2012
175 Monaco 4.37 2004
176 Timor-Leste 4.11 2014
177 Guinea-Bissau 3.90 2013
178 Kyrgyz Republic 3.03 2017
179 Somalia 1.47 1973
180 Madagascar 0.01 2017
181 Tuvalu 0.00 1990
181 St. Lucia 0.00 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 tertiary education to total government expenditure on education is calculated by dividing government expenditure on tertiary 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