Government expenditure on education as % of GDP: To assess a government's policy emphasis on education relative to its national economic wealth.

The Education 2030 Framework for Action endorses this indicator as a key benchmark for a government financing of education, allocating at least 4% to 6% of its GDP. The indicator also reflects the commitment of a government to invest in human capital development.

Government expenditure on education as % of GDP: By level of education.

Government expenditure on education as % of GDP: Government expenditure on education (current and capital) expressed as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a given financial year.

Expenditure on education: Expenditure on education refers to expenditure on core educational goods and services, such as teaching staff, school buildings, or school books and teaching materials, and peripheral educational goods and services such as ancillary services, general administration and other activities.

Expenditure on education can come from public source (i.e. all government ministries and agencies financing or supporting education programmes in the country), international source, and private source (e.g. households).

Government expenditure on education as % of GDP: Government expenditure on education in a given financial year expressed as percentage of the GDP for the same financial year.

Government expenditure on education as % of GDP: The indicator should be produced based on?consistent and?actual?data on total government?expenditures on education and?GDP data.?Government expenditure on education should include those incurred by all concerned ministries and levels of administration. The fact that the fiscal year and educational year budget periods may be different should also be taken into consideration.

The UIS maintains?a?global database used to?produce?this indicator?and defines the protocols and standards for data reporting by countries. ??

Interpretations

Government expenditure on education as % of GDP: In general, high values of the indicator denote great government policy priority for education.

Values of at least 4% to 6% indicate that the country meets the benchmark endorsed by the Education 2030 Framework for Action.

When disaggregated by level of education, this indicator informs about the emphasis of government policy priority across levels of education.

Limitations

Government expenditure on education as % of GDP: In some instances, data on government expenditure on education refer only to the Ministry of Education, excluding other ministries that may spend part of their budget on educational activities. Although the IMF?aims?to publish data on total government expenditure following common definitions based on the Government Finance Statistics Manual, in practice this concept (and what it includes) may differ?between?countries.?