Eurostat published the data, updated to 2022, of public spending for education of most European countries. This occurs at a time when those same states have committed themselves to significantly increase another expenditure item, that for the defense.
According to the last agreement inside the Born In fact, the members of the Atlantic alliance will have to invest in their army up at 3.5% of the GDP. A further 1.5%is also expected, reserved for infrastructure investments always in the defense. Do Eurostat data therefore allow you to answer the question: will European states spend more for education and school or for weapons?
Eurostat data on spending in education
In 2022 the 27 countries of the European Union spent in total 753 billion euros for education, according to Eurostat data. The ranking of the first 5 countries for shopping is as follows:
- Germany, 189 billion euros;
- France, 141 billion euros;
- Italy, 81 billion euros;
- Spain, 60 billion euros;
- Netherlands, 51 billion euros.
They are record numbers for all countries, even if the trajectories over the years are very different. There Germany It has been investing a lot in education since 2016, and has gone from around 140 billion euros to touch the 190 billion. There France He followed a similar trajectory, but with a minor acceleration, which involved a departure from Germany. If in 2016 between the two countries there were less than 20 billion euros of difference in the expenditure for education, in favor of Berlin, almost 50 billion in 2022 was reached.
The important fact: the relationship with the GDP
However, absolute spending data are not so important. A great state like Germany, for example, collects many more taxes than a smaller one or with a less developed economy. It can therefore afford to spend more in absolute value. The data that makes the idea of how much a country spends in a certain area, such as education, is The relationship of this expense with GDPthe wealth produced in a year.
If you take this data, the ranking of the first five states in Europe for public spending in education changes:
- France, 5.8% of GDP;
- Netherlands, 5.7% of GDP;
- Germany, 5.3% of GDP;
- Spain, 4.9% of GDP;
- Italy, 4.1% of GDP.
From this figure it is clear that Italy spends much less for education than other large EU countries. However, another important figure also emerges, considering the recent agreements made within NATO.
Defense against education, for what you spend more
In the last meeting between the leaders of the countries born in the Hague, under pressure by Donald Trump, it was decreed that by 2035 the countries of the alliance will have to bring their military expenditure to 5% of the GDP.
Consequently, if the data on the expenditure for education should remain the same, Italy It would be the only one among the large European countries to spend More in armaments and defense infrastructures than in education. There would be the exception of Spain, which however in addition to being practically 5% of the GDP for shopping in education, has also obtained a special derogation from NATO.
