South Asia: Expenditure on primary education (% of government expenditure on education)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 15.83 percentage points from 25.21% in 2010. Since 1999 it is down 3.43 percentage points from 44.46% in 1999. The World Bank has no value for 3 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2015, South Asia's expenditure on primary education (% of government expenditure on education) fell 0.03 percentage points on 2014 (from 41.07% to 41.04%).

Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2000 to 2014), the average change was −2.75 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 10.09 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 12.67 percentage points in 2014 and the biggest yearly fall was 17.32 percentage points in 2009. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2006 to 2015 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 3% of the movement over 9 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.

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 14 values

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

• Afghanistan — 44.19% (2017)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 33.07% (2018)
• Israel — 38.91% (2016)
• Malta — 24.27% (2015)
• Pakistan — 31.05% (2015)

More education data for South Asia

• 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)
• Persistence to last grade of primary, female (% of cohort)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

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

41.04% in 2015, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1999?

It is down 3.43 percentage points from 44.46% in 1999. The highest value was 53.84% in 2008 and the lowest 25.21% in 2010.

Is the latest change in expenditure on primary education (% of government expenditure on education) unusual for South Asia?

In 2015, South Asia's expenditure on primary education (% of government expenditure on education) fell 0.03 percentage points on 2014 (from 41.07% to 41.04%). Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2000 to 2014), the average change was −2.75 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 10.09 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

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.

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