OECD members: Expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2016, OECD members' expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) fell 1.29 percentage points on 2015 (from 24.13% to 22.84%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1984 to 2015), the average change was +0.15 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.66 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 1.16 percentage points in 1990 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.17 percentage points in 1976. 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 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.18 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 51% of the movement over 10 observed years.

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

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 41 values

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

• Afghanistan — 15.95% (2015)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 28.24% (2018)
• Israel — 15.16% (2016)
• Jordan — 22.75% (2018)
• Malta — 25.33% (2015)
• Pakistan — 22.11% (2017)
• Tunisia — 23.94% (2015)

More education data for OECD members

• Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 91.38 million (2024)
• Primary education, teachers — 6.28 million (2024)
• Primary education, teachers (% female) — 81.25% (2024)
• Secondary education, pupils — 116.41 million (2024)
• Secondary education, teachers — 8.66 million (2024)
• Persistence to last grade of primary, total (% of cohort) — 94.07% (2023)
• School enrollment, primary (gross), gender parity index (GPI) — 1 (2020)
• School enrollment, primary and secondary (gross), gender parity index (GPI)

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 OECD members's expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education)?

22.84% in 2016, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1974?

It is up 3.67 percentage points from 19.17% in 1974. The highest value was 24.13% in 2015 and the lowest 16.53% in 1976.

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

In 2016, OECD members' expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) fell 1.29 percentage points on 2015 (from 24.13% to 22.84%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1984 to 2015), the average change was +0.15 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.66 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 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.

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.