The day of returning to school is approaching for millions of students across Europe. The topic of education thus returns to the spotlight of public debate, even in Italy where the new budget law is approaching. Europe is experiencing years and months of uncertainty, between the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the consequences of the conflict between the United States and Iran. A reality that also affects schools, the shortcomings present in certain countries and investments.
Euronews sought to answer the question of whether greater spending produces stronger skills. He then analyzed the countries that spend the most on education and what the results were.
Which European countries spend the most on education?
Overall, EU countries spent 806 billion euros on education in 2023 (latest updated data), equal to 4.7% of GDP. This is a high figure, but if you look at the last decade, it has been declining. In fact, according to Eurostat, public spending on education as a percentage of GDP has decreased, going from 4.96% in 2014 to 4.65% in 2023.
The highest expenditure is recorded in:
- Sweden with 6.8% of GDP;
- Finland with 6.29% of GDP;
- Iceland with 6.27% of GDP;
- Belgium with 6.21% of GDP;
- Denmark with 6.11% of GDP;
- Norway with 5.74% of GDP;
- France with 5.26% of GDP;
- Holland with 5.17% of GDP;
- Austria with 5.16% of GDP.
Where people spend closer to the EU average (below 5% of GDP):
- Slovakia with 4.92% of GDP;
- Switzerland with 4.83% of GDP;
- Slovenia with 4.82% of GDP;
- Cyprus with 4.80% of GDP;
- Germany with 4.77% of GDP;
- Poland with 4.54% of GDP;
- Portugal with 4.48% of GDP;
- Bulgaria with 4.44% of GDP;
- Latvia with 4.34% of GDP;
- Lithuania with 4.34% of GDP;
- Spain with 4.34% of GDP;
- Czechia with 4.27% of GDP;
- Italy with 4.06% of GDP.
Where the least is spent (below 3% of GDP):
- Luxembourg with 3.93% of GDP;
- Hungary with 3.62% of GDP;
- Malta with 3.44% of GDP;
- Greece with 3.33% of GDP;
- Romania with 2.97% of GDP.
The ranking does not take into account the difference in wealth between countries, but a country’s financial effort in education.
Is there a correlation between investments and results?
There are notable differences between the GDP a nation puts into education and the resources available to each student. For example, Luxembourg spent 3.74% of GDP on education, below the European average, but recorded the highest expenditure per student at 18,422 (purchasing power parity) which is double the European average.
Bulgaria, on the other hand, has an opposite trend, with spending on education close to the European average as a percentage of GDP, but low spending per student, the lowest in Europe.
How does this data impact student outcomes? We know that Norway is among the countries that spend the most per student, while Latvia spends much less. According to Euronews’ analysis, however, Latvian students perform far better than in the Nordic countries in terms of basic skills.
What does it mean? That spending more doesn’t automatically produce better results.
OECD results
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) compares the reading, math, and science skills of 15-year-olds. Of course, it is not possible to grasp every aspect of the quality of an educational system from a limited data, but it can give some indications on the level achieved.
In 2022, 26.2% of students in the European Union achieved insufficient results in reading and 29.5% in mathematics. These figures are worsening compared to 2012, when they stood at 18% and 22.1% respectively.
Countries that spend more per student perform better in mathematics, but this is not an automatic relationship, the analysis highlights. Estonia for example had the lowest percentage of low-achieving students in mathematics in the European Union, followed by Ireland and Denmark. The same three countries recorded lower reading percentages.
And Denmark is among the European countries that spend the most on education. Latvia, on the other hand, achieves good results, considering the limited resources it puts into education. Just look at student results in mathematics and reading, which are better than the European average.
Europe is far from minimum levels
The European Union has a goal, namely to reduce the failure rate in basic skills to less than 15% by 2030. But almost 3 in 10 students do not reach the minimum level required in mathematics.
The data is fueled by socioeconomic disparity: the PISA results highlight a correlation between lower results and students belonging to low income groups.
If levels of investment in education were to remain similar to current levels, the paradox of demographic decline is that the quality of education per individual student would increase. In fact, it is expected that as the population decreases, for example in Italy, Greece and Spain, the space to invest more in each individual pupil will grow.
According to the European Commission report “Investing in Education 2025”, which describes the education objective for 2030, smaller classes and personalized teaching improve training and therefore basic skills. These would foster productivity, innovation and economic growth.
According to estimates, the GDP of European countries could exceed 8-10% of current projections by 2030 if more people achieved a sufficient level of basic skills. An objective that is only possible in two ways: by maintaining current investments in countries where the phenomenon of demographic decline occurs and by investing more in those where the population is growing.
