Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Bhutan
Bhutan: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 5.8% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Bhutan, 1971–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Bhutan recorded 5.8% for government spending on education as a share of gdp in 2023.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 21.7% on the previous year and up 13.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Bhutan peaked at 7.5% in 2022 and was at its lowest, 1.7%, in 1972.
That places Bhutan 33rd out of 199 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2.5% | 1.7% | 3.5% | 5 |
| 2000s | 5.5% | 4.4% | 6.8% | 6 |
| 2010s | 5.5% | 3.8% | 6.9% | 9 |
| 2020s | 6.3% | 5.5% | 7.5% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Bhutan
More education data for Bhutan
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 73.0% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 20.4% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 114.9% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 3,372 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.45 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 119.3% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Bhutan?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Bhutan was 5.8% in 2023, 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 Bhutan?
- The highest recorded value was 7.5% in 2022.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Bhutan?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.7% in 1972.
- How does Bhutan rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Bhutan ranks 33rd out of 199 countries with data for 2023.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Bhutan?
- Over the last ten years it is up 13.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Bhutan 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 — 24 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.