Lesotho: Expenditure on primary education (% of government expenditure on education)

Key figures

Since 1972 it is up 6.52 percentage points from 49.43% in 1972. The World Bank has no value for 29 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 4.59 percentage points in 2001 and the biggest yearly fall was 4.25 percentage points in 1994. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

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

How it compares

In 2018, Lesotho had the 3rd highest value of the 23 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 Lesotho in the 2018 ranking

• Guinea — 1st of 23: 61.65%
• Guatemala — 3rd of 23: 55.6%
• Côte d'Ivoire — 4th of 23: 47.29%
• El Salvador — 5th of 23: 46.16%

What this measures

Expenditure on primary 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 18 values

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

• Benin — 49.81% (2015)
• Burkina Faso — 57.87% (2015)
• Cabo Verde — 38.09% (2017)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 47.29% (2018)
• Ethiopia — 27.45% (2015)
• Gambia, The — 55.84% (2015)
• Guinea — 61.65% (2018)
• Kenya — 36.34% (2015)

More education data for Lesotho

• Primary school starting age (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 7 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 13 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 5 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 309,480 (2024)
• School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 80.18% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, female (% gross) — 78.6% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, male (% gross) — 81.75% (2024)
• Primary education, teachers — 10,388 (2024)
• Primary education, teachers (% female) — 74.46% (2024)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Lesotho's expenditure on primary education (% of government expenditure on education)?

55.96% in 2018, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1972?

It is up 6.52 percentage points from 49.43% in 1972. The highest value was 55.96% in 2018 and the lowest 35.99% in 2008.

How does Lesotho rank?

3rd highest of 23 economies with data for 2018.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, 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).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.XPD.PRIM.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.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.