According to the report released by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS) on World Educations Statistics, 2024, India has spent nearly 4.1-4.6% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education between 2015 and 2024.
- This shows that investment by India in education is alignment with the international benchmarks set by “Education 2030 Framework for Action”, which recommends that countries allocate between4% and 6% of their GDP to education.
Key Findings:
i.As per the report, India’s government expenditure on education has fluctuated between 13.5% and 17.2% during the period between 2014 and 2024.
- However, this range of government expenditure on education is line with the Education 2030 target that encourages governments to allocate 15-20% of their public expenditure to education.
ii.The report highlighted that globally, the world average of public expenditure on education has witnessed decline since 2010 i.e. from 13.2% (in 2010) to 12.5% (in 2020), especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
iii.The report revealed that India’s investment in education has remained stable, consistent with the international benchmarks and has also been investing more compared to its neighbouring countries as well as other Central and South Asian countries in terms of both GDP percentage and government expenditure.
iv.According to the report, South Asian countries such as Nepal and Bhutan has allocated nearly 4-6% of their GDP to education, while some of the nations like Afghanistan and Pakistan are far behind in terms of both expenditure and resource allocation.
v.As per the report, India’s education expenditure as percentage of GDP in 2022 among Central and Southern Asia is lower only to Bhutan (7.5%), Kazakhstan (7.2%), Maldives (4.7%), Tajikistan (5.7%) and Uzbekistan (5.2%).
- The report noted that India’s expenditure is higher than countries like Japan and China, compared to the entire Asia region.
About World Education Statistics 2024:
i.These reports provides in-depth analysis of global trends in educational investment, especially concerning the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG4 which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable education for all.
Recent Related Information:
According to UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM) 2024, over 110 million children and youth entered school since the adoption of UN SDG on education in 2015.
- But, during the same period, the out-of-school population has decreased by just 1%. As a result, 251 million children and youth are still not in school.
About UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS):
It is the statistical office of UNESCO and trusted source of internationally-comparable data on education, science, culture and communication.
Director- Dr. Silvia Montoya
Headquarters- Montreal, Quebec
Established- 1999
