For students in primary, secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education, governments in OECD countries spend on average USD 12 438 per student, ranging from below USD 4 000 in Mexico and Türkiye to around USD 21 000 or more in Korea, Luxembourg and Switzerland. At tertiary level the figures also vary widely, with governments spending 15 102 on average per student (including on R&D), over USD 25 000 per student in Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland, and less than USD 5 000 per student in Chile and Mexico.
Expenditure per student is influenced by national income levels, but some countries spend more than others relative to their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Countries spending below the OECD average in absolute terms may be spending above the average relative to their income. For example, in Chile, Portugal and the Slovak Republic total expenditure per student (primary to tertiary levels) is below the OECD average in absolute terms but amounts to 26% of GDP per capita per student in Chile, 29% in Portugal and 28% in the Slovak Republic, above the OECD average of 25%.
Expenditure on education (primary to tertiary levels) has increased on average between 2015 and 2022 both in absolute terms and per student. At the same time, it has lost ground within public budgets. Government expenditure on education as a share of total government expenditure on all services fell by 6.9% on average across OECD countries, from 10.9% in 2015 to 10.1% in 2022.
Education at a Glance 2025
Context
Governments invest in education for various reasons, such as promoting equality of opportunity and fostering economic growth and prosperity. As governments face competing pressures on tight budgets, private sources (such as students and their families or companies) often complement public sources, especially at tertiary levels. Tertiary education includes research and development, to varying extent across different countries. Policy makers make choices about how much funding to allocate to education and how to distribute those resources across different levels of education, types of institution and geographical areas. These choices are made in the context of constantly changing policy environments – including shifts in the size and demographics of the student body and teacher shortages.
This chapter provides a broad picture of key education finance indicators, setting out how OECD countries are responding to the challenge of financing education systems. It distinguishes between the levels that mostly cover schooling (i.e. primary to post-secondary non-tertiary education) and tertiary education. Subsequent chapters focus on specific levels of education and offer more fine-grained insights.
In equivalent USD converted using PPPs, expenditure on educational institutions
Note: Expenditure at tertiary level includes R&D. Expenditure per student in early childhood education is based on headcounts rather than full-time equivalent students.
1. Year of reference differs from 2022.
2. Primary includes pre-primary education.
3. Includes payments by households outside educational institutions.
For data, see Table C1.1 and Table C2.1. For a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section.
Other findings
Governments are the predominant source of funding at primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary level. On average, OECD governments spend USD 12 438 on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student while only USD 1 088 comes from private (and to a lesser extent non-domestic) sources. At tertiary level, private sources play a much more important role: government expenditure (including R&D) averages USD 15 102 per full-time equivalent student and private expenditure averages USD 6 343.
Total expenditure on primary and secondary education, which largely covers initial schooling and compulsory education, amounts to 3.3% of GDP on average across OECD countries. Post-secondary non-tertiary education tends to be a small part of education systems, with expenditure equivalent to only 0.1% of GDP on average, while 1.4% of GDP is dedicated to tertiary education.
Government spending per student
Figure C1.1 shows direct government expenditure per student grouped by levels of education. This measure captures public investment in education and is the most comparable metric. Data on government expenditure tend to be readily available across countries, while data on private expenditure (mostly by families, but also foundations or companies) are often harder to collect.
Governments in OECD countries spend USD 12 438 per student in primary, secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education on average, ranging from below USD 4 000 in Mexico and Türkiye to over USD 21 000 in Korea, Luxembourg and Switzerland. At tertiary level, government expenditure per student ranges from around USD 25 000 or above in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark to less than USD 5 000 per student in Chile and Mexico. These figures include research and development (R&D), which in some countries accounts for a large share of government expenditure at tertiary level – in Israel, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, government expenditure including R&D is more than double government expenditure excluding R&D (Table C1.1).
Different broad measures of investment in education
Figure C1.2 shows three different measures of countries’ total investment – government plus private expenditure – in education from primary to tertiary levels. First, expenditure per student shows how much is spent per full-time equivalent student (this distinction is particularly important at tertiary level, where part-time enrolment may be common). The amounts are given in USD, adjusted to account for differences in purchasing power across countries (purchasing power parity; PPP). By this measure spending on education tends to be highest in the wealthiest countries and lowest in less wealthy economies; the highest spender is Luxembourg, followed by Norway and Austria, while the lowest is Peru, followed by Mexico and Türkiye.
The other two measures provide a picture of education expenditure relative to a country’s income level. Expenditure per student as a percentage of GDP per capita indicates investment in education relative to the average economic output per person, which in turn reflects the country’s prosperity. Expenditure on educational institutions as a share of GDP illustrates investment in education relative to the size of a country’s economy.
Some countries have high levels of spending across all measures (e.g. Austria, Norway and the United States). Luxembourg has high expenditure per student, but its high GDP and GDP per capita, mean its spending relative to those measures is lower. In contrast, some countries which spend below the OECD average of USD 15 023 per student record above average expenditure relative to income. For example, Chile spends just USD 8 068 per student, but this amounts to 26% of GDP per capita, above the OECD average of 25%, while the Slovak Republic spends USD 11 259 per student (28% of GDP per capita) and Portugal spends USD 12 956 (29%) (Figure C1.2).
Note: A colour gradient is applied per column, with dark blue indicating relatively higher values and light yellow relatively lower ones. Expenditure at tertiary level includes R&D.
1. Year of reference differs from 2022.
2. Primary includes pre-primary education.
3. Includes payments of households outside educational institutions. For data, see Table C1.1, Table C1.2 and C1.7. For a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section.
Private sources complementing government funding
Private sources (and non-domestic sources) complement government expenditure to varying extents across countries (Figure C1.3). In primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education, government sources are the predominant source of funding. On average across OECD countries, USD 12 438 per full-time equivalent student comes from governments, while only USD 1 088 comes from private and non-domestic sources. This reflects the fact that education at these levels is mostly initial education, and largely compulsory (pre-primary education is compulsory in some countries but is not captured here, see Chapter B1).
In equivalent USD converted using PPPs, expenditure on educational institutions
Note: Expenditure at tertiary level includes R&D.
1. Year of reference differs from 2022.
2. Primary includes pre-primary education.
3. Includes payments by households outside educational institutions.
For data, see Table C1.1. For a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section.
Private sources play a much more important role in funding tertiary educational institutions than at lower levels of education. This reflects the benefits that individuals gain from pursuing tertiary studies in the form of better employment outcomes, underpinning the rationale behind governments and students sharing the costs in many countries. For example, expenditure from private greatly exceeds that from government sources in the United Kingdom and the United States, driven partly by relatively high tuition fees in these countries (see Chapter C5 for data on tuition fees and public financial support). Meanwhile, the smaller role of private sources in Nordic countries reflects a different approach: tertiary education is primarily publicly funded and is available tuition-free to students.
It is worth noting that the spending per student from private sources (as well as non-domestic sources) shown in Figure C1.3 does not solely reflect the contribution of students and their families. The figure shows expenditure after public-private transfers, so it counts spending by students who have received a government-funded grant or loan as private expenditure. Private sources also include expenditure from companies, foundations and other private entities as well as from students in their families (see Box C5.2 in Chapter C5 for country examples). Table C1.5 (available on line) provides further details.
Changes in expenditure on education
Changing demographics and enrolment patterns shape expenditure on education as a whole and per student. Ageing societies mean some countries have fewer children, while continuously increasing interest in tertiary education leads to an increasing share of young people pursuing tertiary studies (the number of non-domestic students also shapes enrolment in tertiary programmes, while lower-level programmes tend to serve mostly domestic students). Figure C1.4 shows the changes at primary to post-secondary non-tertiary level between 2015 and 2022 in three measures: total spending on educational institutions per student and overall, and the number of full-time equivalent students. The different measures of changes in expenditure take into account both inflation and differences in living standards across countries.
Taken across all levels from primary to tertiary, on average across OECD countries, the number of students increased slightly, by 2.5% between 2015 and 2022. However, overall expenditure on these levels increased by 14.7% on average over the same period, leading to a 11.9% increase on average in expenditure per student. The pattern of change differs between primary to post-secondary non-tertiary education on the one hand and tertiary education on the other hand. Overall, the number of students at the lower level has increased slightly (increasing by 2.1% on average across OECD countries), while there has been a stronger increase in enrolment at tertiary level (by 5.0%). At both levels, expenditure per student and overall expenditure have increased on average and in most countries (Table C1.3).
Thirteen OECD and partner countries have seen a fall in the number of primary to tertiary students between 2015 and 2022 and in nearly all of these, expenditure per student has increased over the same period. Most of these countries saw an increase in expenditure combined with falling enrolment, leading to a considerable increase in expenditure per student, as for example in Chile, Ireland and Korea (Table C1.3).
Government expenditure on primary to tertiary education in absolute terms, also increased over the same period by 13.1% on average across OECD countries. This average conceals wide variations across countries, with large increases in some (over 26% in ten countries) and substantial decreases in a few other countries (a decrease of over 15% in Latvia and Mexico). Despite the overall increase, education spending appears to be losing ground relative to other priorities in public budgets. As a share of total government expenditure on all services, expenditure on education fell by 6.9% on average across OECD countries, from 11% in 2015 to 10% in 2022. The average is driven by a relatively large fall in a few countries (over 30% in Costa Rica and Latvia), but there were another 11 countries which saw a decrease of at least 10% on this measure (Table C1.3). Figure C1.6 shows the breakdown of government expenditure on different functions of government.
In per cent, based on full-time equivalent students, constant prices
1. Includes payments by households outside educational institutions.
2. Primary includes pre-primary education.
For data, see Table C1.3. For a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section.
Provisional data on education expenditure in 2023 are available for a small number of countries. After accounting for inflation, expenditure per student at primary to tertiary levels decreased between 2022 and 2023 in Germany, Slovenia and Spain. In Lithuania and New Zealand, however, expenditure per student increased over the same period (Table C1.8, available on line).
Distribution of expenditure across levels of education
Figure C1.5 shows total expenditure on educational institutions relative to GDP by level of education. On average OECD countries spend 4.7% of their GDP on education (primary to tertiary level). The mix of funding dedicated to different levels reflects various factors: how the education system is organised (e.g. if the primary level includes more years of education, spending will be higher), the number of students at each level of education and how much is spent per student at each level of education (generally spending per student increases at higher levels of education). Primary and secondary education account for 3.3% of GDP on average. Post-secondary non-tertiary education, which tends to be a small part of most education systems and not available at all in some OECD countries, accounts for only 0.1% of GDP on average. Resources dedicated to tertiary education average 1.4% of GDP but vary widely across countries. Expenditure on early childhood education and care (ECEC) is shown as an additional category on top of expenditure on primary to tertiary, because the availability of data at this level is sometimes quite limited, even though investment in ECEC is widely seen as key for building strong foundations for further learning. One reason for limited data availability is that in some countries ECEC does not fall under the responsibility of the same authorities as primary to tertiary education.
In per cent
Note: Expenditure at tertiary level includes R&D.
1. Includes payments by households outside educational institutions.
2. Primary includes pre-primary education.
For data, see Table C1.2, C2.1, C3.1 and C4.4. For a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section.
Education expenditure in the wider context of government spending
Figure C1.6 shows government education expenditure in the context of government spending on other functions (Eurostat, 2019[1]). On average OECD countries dedicate 11% of government expenditure to education. The data in this figure differ slightly from those in Table C1.3: expenditure on education here includes non-formal learning but excludes early childhood educational development (which is included in social protection and health instead). Education is one of the largest areas of expenditure after social protection and health, and on a par with economic affairs and general public services.
There is much variation across countries, ranging from Chile, Israel and Switzerland, which dedicate over 15% of government expenditure to education, to Colombia and Italy, which dedicate less than 8%. In almost all countries, social protection receives the largest share of government expenditure, accounting for over 40% in various European countries and for 35% of government expenditure on average. Health receives the second largest share (16% on average across OECD countries), with again much variation across countries: from less than 10% in Hungary and Switzerland, to 26% in the United States (Table C1.9, available on line).
In per cent, data based on the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG)
Note: The category "Other" includes Public order and safety, Environmental protection, Housing and community amenities, and Recreation, culture and religion. COFOG data are not fully comparable to UOE data used in other parts of this chapter due to differences in underlying definitions. Notably non-formal learning is excluded from UOE data, but included in COFOG data.
1. Year of reference differs from 2023. Refer to the source table for more details.
For data, see Table C1.9, available on line. For a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section.
Subnational variations in expenditure per student
The various financial indicators presented in Part C focus on data that are aggregated at country level and do not capture potential regional disparities. However, it is important to recognise that country-level data may conceal substantial variation within countries. Figure C1.7 illustrates regional expenditure per student in primary and secondary education in six countries. These differences can arise due to a combination of factors. Subnational governments play an important role in financing education in some countries and geographical disparities in economic activity mean that different regions and municipalities may have different capacities to raise resources for education. This may be balanced by funding from central governments (e.g. a funding formula might allocate more resources to poorer areas). But there are many other potential factors at play; for example rural areas with smaller classes will have higher spending per student, all other things being equal. Data on regional expenditure per student may indicate potential sources of inequality within countries but also enable cross-country comparisons – a region that ranks highly within its own country may still lag behind internationally.
Primary and secondary education, in equivalent USD converted using PPPs
1. Includes post-secondary non-tertiary education.
2. Year of reference 2021. Education finance data for Canada are calendarised, but not for subnational data.
3. 3. Data refer to public expenditure on non-university education per student in public institutions. Only public expenditure is reported, implying that private expenditure in public institutions is not covered.
4. 4. Reference year 2021. Data refer to public institutions only. ISCED 02 is included in the ISCED 1-3 total for both spending and enrolment counts. Total expenditure includes current expenditure and capital outlays. For a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section.
Expenditure on educational institutions refers to expenditure on educational goods and services within both teaching (e.g. schools, universities and colleges) and non-teaching institutions (ministries and local authorities). It excludes expenditure outside educational institutions, even if publicly subsidised (e.g. private tutoring outside educational institutions, the purchase of textbooks and other materials, and students’ living expenses).
Direct government expenditure on educational institutions can take the form of purchases by a government agency of educational resources to be used by educational institutions, or funding provided by a government agency to educational institutions to make such purchases.
Direct private expenditure on educational institutions includes tuition fees and other private payments to educational institutions, whether or not supported by government subsidies. Private sources of expenditure include households (students and their families) and other private entities, such as businesses and non-profit organisations.
Government transfers to the private sector include two categories. Government transfers to households include transfers that translate into payments to educational institutions for educational services (e.g. scholarships or student loans for tuition). Government transfers to other private entities include, for example, subsidies to firms that host apprentices and interest subsidies to private financial institutions that provide student loans.
Initial government spending includes direct government expenditure on educational institutions and transfers to the private sector. It excludes transfers from non-domestic sources. Initial private spending includes tuition fees and other household payments to educational institutions, minus the portion of such payments offset by government subsidies. Initial non-domestic spending includes direct non-domestic expenditure on educational institutions (e.g. a research grant from a foreign corporation to a public university) and transfers from non-domestic sources to governments.
Final spending reflects actual disbursements to educational institutions after public-private transfers. Final government spending includes direct government purchases of educational resources and payments to educational institutions. Final private spending includes direct expenditure on educational institutions (e.g. tuition fees), whether partially covered by government subsidies or not. It also includes expenditure by private companies on the work-based element of combined school- and work-based programmes. Final non-domestic spending includes direct non-domestic payments to educational institutions such as research grants or other funds from non-domestic sources paid directly to educational institutions.
All domestic government sources of expenditure on education are classified under three levels: central, regional and local. Intergovernmental transfers are defined as net transfers from a higher to a lower level of government. Initial funds refer to the funds before transfers between levels of government, while final funds refer to the funds after transfers.
Research and development includes research performed at tertiary educational institutions, regardless of whether it is financed from general institutional funds or through separate grants or contracts from public or private sponsors.
The framework that underpins the education finance indicators contained in Part C is built around three dimensions (for details see Education at a Glance 2025 Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, (https://doi.org/10.1787/fcfaf2d1-en)
The location of service providers. This dimension distinguishes between the spending that occurs in educational institutions and spending that takes place outside them. In this context, educational institutions include both teaching institutions (e.g. schools and universities) and non-teaching institutions (e.g. education ministries). Examples of spending outside educational institutions include books purchased outside institutions, fees for private tutoring and student living costs.
The type of goods and services. This dimension allows spending on core educational purposes (e.g. expenditure on teachers, school buildings, books, administration of schools) to be differentiated from other education-related expenditures (e.g. research and development, ancillary services such as meals and housing).
The source of funds. The framework distinguishes between three sources of funds. Government expenditure refers to spending by public authorities. Private expenditure refers to spending by households and other private entities (e.g. companies). International funds consist of funds from public multilateral organisations for development aid to education.
Expenditure and GDP values in national currencies are converted to equivalent USD by dividing the national currency figure by the purchasing power parity (PPP) index for GDP. The PPP conversion factor is used instead of the market exchange rate, because exchange rates are affected by various factors (e.g. interest rates, trade policies or expectations of economic growth) that do not necessarily reflect relative domestic purchasing power across countries. Subnational expenditure data are adjusted using national PPPs. If the reference periods for education expenditure and GDP differ, the expenditure data are adjusted to match the GDP reference period using relevant national inflation rates (see Annex 2 for further details).
Expenditure per full-time equivalent (FTE) student is calculated for primary to tertiary education, and only for programmes and educational institutions with both enrolment and expenditure data. This measure is affected by how countries report the number of FTE students, especially at tertiary level, where part-time study is more common. Some countries count all students as full time, while others calculate the number of FTE students based on students’ intensity of participation – for example by using credits earned during a specific period towards the targeted qualification. All else being equal, countries that calculate FTE students based on part-time enrolment will report higher expenditure per FTE student than those that report all students as full time.
In keeping with the system used by many countries to record government expenditures and revenues, educational expenditure data are compiled on a cash accounting rather than an accrual accounting basis. Therefore expenditure (both capital and current) is recorded in the year in which the payments occurred. In particular:
Capital acquisitions are counted fully in the year in which the expenditure occurs.
Depreciation of capital assets is not recorded as expenditure, although expenditure on repairs and maintenance is recorded in the year it occurs. This can result in sharp fluctuations in expenditure from year to year owing to the start or completion of school building projects which, by their nature, are sporadic.
Expenditure on student loans is recorded as the gross loan outlay in the year in which the loans are made, without subtracting repayments or interest payments from existing borrowers.
A notable exception to the cash accounting rules is the treatment of the retirement costs of educational personnel in situations where there are no (or only partial) ongoing employer contributions towards the future retirement benefits of the personnel. In these cases, countries are asked to impute these expenditures to arrive at a more internationally comparable cost of employing the personnel.
At tertiary level, many countries operate a loan payment/repayment system. While public loan payments are included in expenditure figures, loan repayments from private individuals are not. As a result, private contribution to education costs may be underestimated.
For more detailed information, please refer to the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics (OECD, 2018[2]). For country-specific notes, see Education at a Glance 2025 Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes.
Data refer to the financial year 2022 (unless otherwise specified) and are based on the UNESCO, OECD and Eurostat (UOE) data collection on education statistics administered by the OECD in 2024 (for details see Education at a Glance 2025 Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, (https://doi.org/10.1787/fcfaf2d1-en)
Data for China, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS), while data for Argentina and South Africa are partly sourced from UIS.
References
[1] Eurostat (2019), Manual on Sources and Methods for the Compilation of COFOG Statistics: Classification of the Functions of Government, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, https://doi.org/10.2785/498446.
[2] OECD (2018), OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018: Concepts, Standards, Definitions and Classifications, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264304444-en.
To download the data for the figures and tables in this chapter, click StatLink above.
To access further data and/or other education indicators, please visit the OECD Data Explorer: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/.
Data cut-off for the print publication 13 June 2025. Please note that the Data Explorer contains the most recent data.
Table C1.1. Expenditure on educational institutions per student, by level of education (2022)
1. Upper secondary includes post-secondary non-tertiary education.
2. Primary education includes pre-primary education.
3. Total expenditure on educational institutions includes payments of households outside educational institutions.
4. Upper secondary and tertiary include post-secondary non-tertiary education.
5. Year of reference 2021.
Table C1.2. Expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of GDP, by level of education (2022)
Note: Columns showing total government expenditure on education including expenditure outside educational institutions are available for consultation on line.
1. Upper secondary includes post-secondary non-tertiary education.
2. Primary education includes pre-primary education.
3. Total expenditure on educational institutions includes payments of households outside educational institutions.
4. Upper secondary and tertiary include post-secondary non-tertiary education.
5. Year of reference 2021.
Table C1.3. Change in expenditure on education, by level of education (2015 to 2022)
Note: Columns showing the data on expenditure and numbers of students for 2015 and 2022 are available for consultation on line.
1. Primary education includes pre-primary education.
2. Total expenditure on educational institutions includes payments of households outside educational institutions.
3. Upper secondary and tertiary include post-secondary non-tertiary education.
Table C1.4. Distribution of government funds devoted to education, by level of government and level of education (2022)
Note: Columns showing values for primary to tertiary education are available for consultation on line.
1. Primary education includes pre-primary education.
2. Total expenditure on educational institutions includes payments of households outside educational institutions.
3. Some transfers are included in central government expenditure, causing total shares to slightly exceed 100%.
4. Upper secondary and tertiary include post-secondary non-tertiary education.
5. Year of reference 2021.
a – category not applicable; b – break in series; d – contains data from another column; m – missing data; x – contained in another column (indicated in brackets). For further control codes, see the Reader’s Guide.
For further methodological information, see Education at a Glance 2025: Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/fcfaf2d1-en).
In equivalent USD converted using PPPs for GDP, direct expenditure within educational institutions
Note: For notes on this table and a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section above.
Direct expenditure within educational institutions
Note: For notes on this table and a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section above.
Change in per cent, constant 2020 prices in equivalent USD converted using PPPs
Note: For notes on this table and a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section above.
Percentage of total government expenditure on education before and after transfers
Note: For notes on this table and a link to download the data, see Tables and Notes section above.