Latvia: Expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2016, Latvia's expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) fell 6.05 percentage points on 2015 (from 22.09% to 16.04%).

Across the 17 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2015), the average change was +0.3 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.8 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 3.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 4.59 percentage points in 2011 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.05 percentage points in 2016. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2007 to 2016 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 16% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2016, Latvia had the 34th highest value of the 35 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Latvia in the 2016 ranking

• Brunei Darussalam — 30th of 35: 18.89%
• Aruba — 31st of 35: 18.39%
• Hungary — 32nd of 35: 16.08%
• Israel — 34th of 35: 15.16%
• Czechia — 35th of 35: 12.6%

What this measures

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.

Limitations: 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.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a median.

All 20 values

Expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) in nearby economies

• Andorra — 5.64% (2018)
• Armenia — 12.99% (2017)
• Austria — 32.49% (2016)
• Azerbaijan — 16.4% (2017)
• Belarus — 16.48% (2017)
• Belgium — 22.28% (2016)
• Cyprus — 20.78% (2016)
• Czechia — 12.6% (2016)

More education data for Latvia

• Primary school starting age (years) — 7 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 13 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 123,956 (2024)
• Primary education, teachers — 9,966 (2024)
• Secondary education, pupils — 123,994 (2024)
• Pupil-teacher ratio, primary — 11.54 (2017)
• Secondary education, teachers — 12,484 (2024)
• Pupil-teacher ratio, lower secondary — 7.48 (2017)
• Pupil-teacher ratio, tertiary

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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Questions people ask

What is Latvia's expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education)?

16.04% in 2016, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 3.59 percentage points from 12.45% in 1996. The highest value was 22.09% in 2015 and the lowest 12.45% in 1996.

How does Latvia rank?

34th highest of 35 economies with data for 2016.

Is the latest change in expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) unusual for Latvia?

In 2016, Latvia's expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) fell 6.05 percentage points on 2015 (from 22.09% to 16.04%). Across the 17 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2015), the average change was +0.3 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.8 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 3.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.XPD.TERT.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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