G LO B A L E D U C AT I O N M O N I TO R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 6
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SUMMARY
Finance
TARGET 4.5
T
he 2030 Agenda includes three targets related to means of implementation, but none refer to education financing
– even though lack of equitable and adequate financing was a key reason the world fell short of achieving the EFA
goals in 2015.
Regardless of the absence of a financing target, comprehensive and regular education financing data
are a prerequisite
for effective education sector planning and for monitoring the commitment of all partners to the global education agenda.
NATIONAL EDUCATION ACCOUNTS
Debates on education financing rarely consider how the sources of education expenditure – government spending,
external assistance and household spending – combine and affect one another. Faced with a similar challenge, the
health sector developed national health accounts to collect and process health expenditure data.
A recent project aims to introduce a national education account (NEA) methodology in eight countries. For example, the
government of Nepal spends 3.5% of GDP on education, 2.6 percentage points less than Viet Nam. But when households and other
sources are taken into account, the order is reversed: Nepal allocates 1.5 percentage points more to education than Viet Nam.
IMPROVING FINANCIAL DATA
To build strong NEAs, information on expenditure flows from governments, aid partners and households needs to improve.
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE
The Education 2030 Framework for Action proposed two benchmarks as ‘crucial reference points’: allocate at least 4%
to 6% of GDP to education, and/or allocate at least 15% to 20% of public expenditure to education. Globally, countries
TAB LE 3 :
Public education expenditure, by region and country income group, 2014
Public education expenditure
as % of GDP
Number of countries
that spent <4% of GDP
Public education expenditure
as % of public expenditure
Number of countries
that spent <15% of public
expenditure
Number of countries that spent
<4% of GDP and <15% of public
expenditure
World
4.6
51
14.2
70
35
Low income
Lower middle income
Upper middle income
High income
3.9
4.1
4.6
4.9
13
13
9
16
16.7
15.6
15.7
11.9
9
13
11
37
9
10
7
9
Caucasus and Central Asia
Eastern and South-eastern Asia
2.8
3.9
4
7
12.9
15.4
3
6
3
4
Europe and Northern America
Latin America and the Caribbean
Northern Africa and Western Asia
Pacific
Southern Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
5.0
4.9
...
...
3.8
4.3
7
7
3
2
5
16
12.1
16.1
...
...
15.3
16.6
31
6
5
2
4
13
5
3
3
1
4
12
Note: All values shown are medians.
Source: UIS database
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