Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Bulgaria
Bulgaria: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 4.5% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Bulgaria, 1980–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
In 2022, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Bulgaria stood at 4.5%.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 4.4% on the previous year and up 29.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Bulgaria peaked at 5.4% in 1991 and was at its lowest, 2.2%, in 1996.
Bulgaria ranks 81st of 199 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 3.5% | 3.5% | 3.5% | 1 |
| 1990s | 4.0% | 2.2% | 5.4% | 8 |
| 2000s | 3.9% | 3.4% | 4.3% | 9 |
| 2010s | 3.9% | 3.5% | 4.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.6% | 4.5% | 4.7% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Bulgaria
More education data for Bulgaria
- Duration of pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 63.4% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 14.4% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 11 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 7 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 95.3% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 22,710 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.75 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 95.3% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Bulgaria?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Bulgaria was 4.5% 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 Bulgaria?
- The highest recorded value was 5.4% in 1991.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Bulgaria?
- The lowest recorded value was 2.2% in 1996.
- How does Bulgaria rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Bulgaria ranks 81st out of 199 countries with data for 2022.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Bulgaria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 29.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Bulgaria 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 — 31 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.