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Government expenditure on education

General government expenditure on education (current, capital, and transfers) is expressed as a percentage of GDP. It includes expenditure funded by transfers from international sources to government. General government usually refers to local, regional and central governments.

Unit
% of GDP
Geographic coverage
200 of 217 countries have numeric values
Source dataset update
8 October 2026
EXPLORE THE DATA

Government expenditure on education

% of GDP · 2000–2026

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Select up to three countries
Showing selected countries and up to 12 suggestions. Search by name or code across 217 countries and economies.

Selected window: 2000–2026. Solid: observed · Dashed: estimate/projection · Dotted: source status unclassified · Diamond: 2026.

Portugal · Latest value: 2022United States · Latest value: 2021Japan · Latest value: 2021
Government expenditure on education by country2.13.24.35.46.6200020132026Estimate or projection; source editions and methods may differ.Portugal · 2000 · 5.16 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2001 · 5.34 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2002 · 5.26 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2003 · 5.28 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2004 · 5.05 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2005 · 5.07 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2006 · 4.91 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2007 · 4.92 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2008 · 4.7 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2009 · 5.56 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2010 · 5.4 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2011 · 5.12 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2012 · 4.94 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2013 · 5.27 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2014 · 5.12 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2015 · 4.89 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2017 · 5.03 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2018 · 4.68 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2019 · 4.63 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2020 · 4.86 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2021 · 4.77 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIPortugal · 2022 · 4.55 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIEstimate or projection; source editions and methods may differ.United States · 2015 · 4.93 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIUnited States · 2016 · 4.78 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIUnited States · 2017 · 5.09 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIUnited States · 2018 · 4.9 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIUnited States · 2019 · 4.96 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIUnited States · 2020 · 5.4 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIUnited States · 2021 · 5.42 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIEstimate or projection; source editions and methods may differ.Japan · 2000 · 3.46 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2001 · 3.4 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2002 · 3.41 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2003 · 3.47 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2004 · 3.43 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2005 · 3.31 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2006 · 3.28 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2007 · 3.28 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2008 · 3.27 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2010 · 3.6 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2011 · 3.61 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2012 · 3.42 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2013 · 3.41 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2014 · 3.42 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2015 · 3.31 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2016 · 3.15 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2017 · 3.13 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2018 · 3.08 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2019 · 3.16 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2020 · 3.31 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDIJapan · 2021 · 3.34 % of GDP · UNCLASSIFIED · World Bank · WDI
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Portugal United States Japan
Source: World Bank · WDI
Historical source checked: 13 October 2026 · Source dataset updated on 8 October 2026.
Observation years vary by country. Display values are rounded; gaps are preserved.
Latest available chart year: Portugal: 2022 · United States: 2021 · Japan: 2021. This may differ from the selected period.
How to read this chart

Unclassified means the provider did not supply an explicit observation/estimate flag. It does not mean the value is unreliable. Source or methodology changes can affect trends across editions.

Countries publish data on different schedules. A shorter line or a gap means the source has no value for that country and year. Missing values are not zero. Only separately sourced official estimates or projections may fill gaps; we do not invent intermediate values. Use Table to inspect individual years.

The source-check date tells you when we retrieved the data, not the year it describes. Use the observation year when citing a value.

Compare the same definition and period. Differences are descriptive, not causal. National measurement methods may differ; crude rates are not age-standardised. Missing uncertainty intervals in this feed do not mean an estimate is exact.

At the same point in time

Latest comparable common year within this selection: 2021.

United States minus Portugal: 0.65 percentage points.

Japan minus Portugal: -1.44 percentage points.

Calculated by World in Stats from the named source values. Differences are not causal effects.
Where did these numbers come from?
Dataset
World Development Indicators
Original indicator
SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS · Original source
Data providers
Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. Detailed documentation is available at: https://api.uis.unesco.org/api/public/documentation/, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), date accessed: 2026-03-19, date published: 2026-02
Source dataset update
8 October 2026
Retrieved
13 October 2026
Publication date
Not supplied separately by the API
Definition
General government expenditure on education (current, capital, and transfers) is expressed as a percentage of GDP. It includes expenditure funded by transfers from international sources to government. General government usually refers to local, regional and central governments.
Unit
% of GDP
Transformations
None. Display values may be rounded; CSV retains source precision.
Licence & attribution
Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. Detailed documentation is available at: https://api.uis.unesco.org/api/public/documentation/, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), date accessed: 2026-03-19, date published: 2026-02. Source attribution and terms. No endorsement implied.
Verification
Exact API query · Indicator metadata

Interpreting this indicator

This measures government education spending relative to GDP. The share can rise when GDP falls, even without an increase in spending. It does not directly measure expenditure per student, private spending or educational results.

Understand percentages, rates and uncertainty

Data availability varies by country and year. Compare the same definition and time period. Revisions may change historical observations; these values belong to the snapshot retrieved on 13 October 2026.

This feed does not supply uncertainty intervals for these observations. No ranking or causal explanation is inferred.

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