Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Italy
Italy: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 4.1% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Italy, 1913–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Italy recorded 4.1% for government spending on education as a share of gdp in 2022.
The figure is down 2.5% on the previous year and up 0.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Italy peaked at 4.8% in 1984 and was at its lowest, 0.6%, in 1913.
That places Italy 106th out of 199 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 45 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 1 |
| 1930s | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1 |
| 1960s | 3.6% | 3.6% | 3.6% | 1 |
| 1970s | 3.7% | 2.9% | 4.2% | 7 |
| 1980s | 4.6% | 4.4% | 4.8% | 6 |
| 1990s | 4.5% | 4.3% | 4.7% | 6 |
| 2000s | 4.4% | 4.1% | 4.6% | 10 |
| 2010s | 4.1% | 3.8% | 4.3% | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.2% | 4.1% | 4.4% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More education data for Italy
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 63.2% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 11.7% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 11 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 103.6% (2023)
- Primary education, teachers 250,961 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.21 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 103.0% (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Italy?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Italy was 4.1% 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 Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 4.8% in 1984.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.6% in 1913.
- How does Italy rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Italy ranks 106th out of 199 countries with data for 2022.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Italy 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.
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CSV · JSON — 45 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.