Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Belgium
Belgium: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 6.3% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Belgium, 1913–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
The most recent figure for government spending on education as a share of gdp in Belgium is 6.3%, measured in 2022.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 1.6% on the previous year and down 4.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Belgium peaked at 6.8% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 1.2%, in 1913.
Belgium ranks 25th of 199 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 33 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1 |
| 1960s | 4.6% | 4.6% | 4.6% | 1 |
| 1970s | 5.7% | 5.4% | 6.0% | 5 |
| 1980s | 5.0% | 4.3% | 5.4% | 6 |
| 1990s | 4.2% | 3.0% | 5.4% | 4 |
| 2000s | 6.2% | 5.8% | 6.4% | 3 |
| 2010s | 6.5% | 6.3% | 6.6% | 10 |
| 2020s | 6.5% | 6.3% | 6.8% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Belgium
More education data for Belgium
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 63.3% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 15.7% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 102.1% (2023)
- Primary education, teachers 80,763 (2023)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.38 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 102.1% (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Belgium?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Belgium was 6.3% in 2022, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Belgium?
- The highest recorded value was 6.8% in 2020.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Belgium?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.2% in 1913.
- How does Belgium rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Belgium ranks 25th out of 199 countries with data for 2022.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Belgium?
- Over the last ten years it is down 4.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Belgium data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Government spending on education as a share of GDP. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 33 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Total annual general government spending on all levels of education, expressed as a percentage of GDP.