Education · Glossary
Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP)
SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS
Definition
General government expenditure on education (current, capital, and transfers) is expressed as a percentage of GDP. It includes expenditure funded by transfers from international sources to government. General government usually refers to local, regional and central governments.
Methodology for Education indicators
Education indicators come from UNESCO's Institute for Statistics, national ministries, and school censuses. Enrollment rates can exceed 100% when over-age children are still in school (repeating grades), so "net enrollment" — which counts only age-appropriate students — is often the more interpretable metric. Literacy data is updated infrequently in many countries.
How to interpret
- Always check the unit and reporting year before comparing values across countries.
- NULL or "Not available" means the World Bank did not publish a value — we never estimate.
- Year-over-year changes can be driven by methodology updates, not just real economic shifts.