South Asia (IDA & IBRD): Expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2016, South Asia (IDA & IBRD)'s expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) rose 7.61 percentage points on 2015 (from 15.09% to 22.7%).

Across the 21 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2015), the average change was −0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.01 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.6 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 7.61 percentage points in 2016 and the biggest yearly fall was 7.8 percentage points in 2001. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2016 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.67 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 36% of the movement over 9 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 27 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 South Asia (IDA & IBRD)

• Primary education, duration (years) — 5 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 7 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 160.82 million (2024)
• Primary education, teachers — 5.84 million (2024)
• Primary education, teachers (% female) — 58.29% (2024)
• Secondary education, pupils — 152.88 million (2024)
• Secondary education, teachers — 7.84 million (2024)
• Secondary education, teachers, female — 3.72 million (2024)
• Secondary education, teachers (% female) — 47.49% (2024)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is South Asia (IDA & IBRD)'s expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education)?

22.7% in 2016, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1979?

It is up 5.72 percentage points from 16.98% in 1979. The highest value was 22.7% in 2016 and the lowest 10.28% in 2003.

Is the latest change in expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) unusual for South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?

In 2016, South Asia (IDA & IBRD)'s expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) rose 7.61 percentage points on 2015 (from 15.09% to 22.7%). Across the 21 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2015), the average change was −0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.01 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.6 standard deviations above 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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