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Dataset · UIS

Government Spending on Education

51 years, 1971–2023 · 123 countries

Government spending on education is what a government spends on education as a share of the whole economy. It measures commitment — what goes in — while the enrolment and completion rates show what comes out.

This site holds every year from 1971 to 2023, read from UIS’s own data and stored exactly as published.

Open Government Spending on Education, 2023Download all 51 · CSVSee it charted by country →
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Government Spending on Education · the file

Newest
Government Spending on Education, 2023
Held
51 years · 5,000 rows
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

0151 years

Every year

Newest first. Each opens the full table for that year, and each downloads as a CSV.

1971bar height: countries covered, up to 1742023
Every year of Government Spending on Education held on this site, newest first, with its download files.
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
Government Spending on Education, 2023Newest123+7 −50September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2022166+7 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2021171+6 −8September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2020173+9 −6September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2019170+10 −8September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2018168+3 −9September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2017174+11 −3September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2016166+6 −7September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2015167+10 −7September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2014164+14 −6September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2013156+13 −8September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2012151+19 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Show all 51 years
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
Government Spending on Education, 2011144+18 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2010138+36 −13September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2009115+16 −18September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2008117+26 −15September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2007106+20 −19September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2006105+18 −21September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2005108+8 −19September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2004119+25 −13September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2003107+9 −23September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2002121+21 −11September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2001111+13 −21September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 2000119+20 −16September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 1999115+43 −17September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199889+48 −36September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199677+17 −17September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199577+18 −10September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199469+21 −11September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199359+21 −20September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199258+18 −14September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199154+15 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 199051+17 −21September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198955+13 −11September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198853+11 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198754+11 −17September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198660+17 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198555+8 −10September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198457+11 −9September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198355+6 −10September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198259+10 −7September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198156+11 −19September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 198064+18 −10September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197956+16 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197852+14 −15September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197753+10 −8September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197651+7 −11September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197555+11 −7September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197351+11 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197252+10 −12September 10, 2026CSV
Government Spending on Education, 197154—September 10, 2026CSV

Every year in one file, one row per country per year: education-spending-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

023 columns

What’s in the file

Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.

Every column in the newest file of Government Spending on Education: what it holds, how it is stored, and its range.
ColumnWhat it holdsStored asRange, 2023DistinctEmptySpread
CountrycountryNameThe country’s name, as this file spells it.Text—1230
ISO Codecountry_codeIdentifierThe ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it.Text · 3 letters—1230
Government expenditure on education (% of GDP)education_spending_gdpHeadlineThe headline figure: Government expenditure on education (% of GDP).Number · up to 17 decimals0.0000Somalia16.3905Kiribatimiddle 3.70921230

Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. A higher value is the better result.

03206 countries across every year

Who is covered

How many countries each year holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.

All regions
Countries in each year of Government Spending on Education, by continent.
201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
Africa464544464342424143424238
Americas333440424142423940404034
Asia353736353840363939363532
Europe33353635354038403639368
Oceania4589910101115141311
All151156164167166174168170173171166123

The newest 12 of 51 years.

Who joined and who left

  • 2023
    + China+ Cook Islands+ Lesotho+ Mongolia+ Saudi Arabia+ Timor-Leste+ Zimbabwe− Anguilla− Australia− Austria− Belgium− Bulgaria− Brazil− Canada− Switzerland− Chile− DR Congo− Cuba− Cyprus− Czechia− Germany− Denmark− Spain− Estonia− Finland− France− Ghana− Greece− Hungary− India− Iceland− Israel− Italy− South Korea− Lithuania− Luxembourg− Latvia− Mexico− Marshall Islands− Malta− Mozambique− Malawi− Namibia− Netherlands− Norway− Oman− Poland− Portugal− Romania− San Marino− Slovakia− Slovenia− Sweden− Tonga− Türkiye− Uganda− Vietnam
  • 2022
    + Greece+ Iran+ Lebanon+ Malawi+ Oman+ Sint Maarten+ Saint Vincent and the Grenadines− Aruba− United Arab Emirates− Burundi− Cook Islands− United Kingdom− Croatia− Ireland− Japan− Palestine− Timor-Leste− Ukraine− United States
  • 2021
    + Aruba+ Grenada+ Monaco+ Malta+ Palestine+ Serbia− Botswana− Colombia− Micronesia− Iran− Lebanon− Oman− Qatar− Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • 2020
    + Australia+ DR Congo+ Comoros+ Sri Lanka+ Mexico+ Palau+ Solomon Islands+ Tuvalu+ Saint Vincent and the Grenadines− Aruba− Greece− Monaco− Malta− Myanmar− Serbia
  • 2019
    + United Arab Emirates+ Cyprus+ Monaco+ Marshall Islands+ Malta+ Mauritania+ Montserrat+ Qatar+ Turkmenistan+ Tunisia− Djibouti− Grenada− Guyana− Sri Lanka− Lesotho− Mexico− Malawi− Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • 2018
    + Cayman Islands+ Cambodia+ Somalia− Afghanistan− DR Congo− Cyprus− Monaco− Malta− Mongolia− Montserrat− Palestine− Qatar
  • 2017
    + Burkina Faso+ France+ Greece+ Grenada+ Croatia+ Luxembourg+ Myanmar+ Oman+ Portugal+ Qatar+ Tonga− Brunei− Mauritania− South Sudan
  • 2016
    + Brunei+ Denmark+ Kuwait+ Lebanon+ Monaco+ Serbia− Burkina Faso− Comoros− Greece− Grenada− Luxembourg− Portugal− Tunisia

Not in this dataset · 19 places this site covers

UIS gives no figure for these in any year held here. It is the publisher’s choice of scope, and each place’s profile shows what is measured.

Channel IslandsFaroe IslandsFrench PolynesiaGibraltarGreenlandGuamIsle of ManKosovoMontenegroNew CaledoniaNiueNorth KoreaNorthern CyprusNorthern Mariana IslandsSaint MartinSomalilandTaiwanUnited States Virgin IslandsVatican City

04Provenance

Where it comes from

The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.

The site’s method

  1. 1 · Publisher

    UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

    databrowser.uis.unesco.org

  2. 2 · Their file

    Government Spending on Education 2023

    indicators

  3. 3 · Read by this site

    September 10, 2026

    Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.

  4. 4 · Stored as

    51 files, one per year

    Each downloads as a CSV, or every year together as education-spending-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

  5. 5 · Used on

    Its statistic page, and every profile it measures

    /statistics/education-spendingA key for Education & Knowledge in the Country Index.

Precision

The headline is stored to 17 decimals, as published.

Rounded by this site

Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.

Changed by this site

Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics data API. Years reporting fewer than 50 countries are left out.

05Reuse

Licence and credit

What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.

Every publisher’s terms

Licence · checked September 5, 2026

CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Share and redistribute it
  • Adapt it and build on it
  • Use it commercially
  • Credit the publisher
  • Say what you changed
  • Publish anything adapted from it under the same licence

Share, adapt and use commercially with credit — and anything you publish that adapts it must carry the same licence.

A credit line

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), Government Spending on Education, via Nations Inquiry.

Cite this dataset

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Government Spending on Education, 1971–2023 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/education-spending

The publisher’s own citation: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. UIS Data Browser. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.

06Questions

Government Spending on Education: questions and answers

What is the Government Spending on Education?

Government spending on education is what a government spends on education as a share of the whole economy. It measures commitment — what goes in — while the enrolment and completion rates show what comes out.

Which years of the Government Spending on Education can I download?

All 51, from 1971 to 2023, each as a CSV file, or every year together in one CSV.

Does UIS rank countries on it?

No. UIS publishes values only. The positions shown on this site are derived by ordering the published values, and are labelled as ours.

Can I use it commercially?

Yes, under CC BY-SA 4.0, with credit to UIS. The licence text is linked on this page.

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