Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Germany
Germany: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 5.2% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Germany, 1870–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Germany recorded 5.2% for government spending on education as a share of gdp in 2022.
The figure is down 2.4% on the previous year and up 8.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Germany peaked at 5.5% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 1.3%, in 1870.
Germany ranks 54th of 199 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 23 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | 1.3% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 1 |
| 1910s | 2.7% | 2.7% | 2.7% | 1 |
| 1960s | 2.9% | 2.9% | 2.9% | 1 |
| 1980s | 4.7% | 4.7% | 4.7% | 1 |
| 1990s | 4.4% | 4.3% | 4.5% | 5 |
| 2000s | 4.5% | 4.5% | 4.5% | 1 |
| 2010s | 4.9% | 4.8% | 5.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 5.4% | 5.2% | 5.5% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Germany
More education data for Germany
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 62.4% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 13.9% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 10 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 102.6% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 283,851 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.45 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 103.0% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Germany?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Germany was 5.2% 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 Germany?
- The highest recorded value was 5.5% in 2020.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Germany?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.3% in 1870.
- How does Germany rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Germany ranks 54th out of 199 countries with data for 2022.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Germany?
- Over the last ten years it is up 8.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Germany 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 — 23 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.