Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Norway
Norway: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 5.4% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Norway, 1870–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Norway recorded 5.4% for government spending on education as a share of gdp in 2022.
The figure is down 22.0% on the previous year and down 25.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Norway peaked at 8.4% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 0.5%, in 1870.
That places Norway 42nd out of 199 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 54 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1 |
| 1910s | 1.4% | 1.4% | 1.4% | 1 |
| 1930s | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1 |
| 1960s | 4.2% | 4.2% | 4.2% | 1 |
| 1970s | 5.9% | 5.6% | 6.4% | 7 |
| 1980s | 5.7% | 5.3% | 6.3% | 10 |
| 1990s | 7.1% | 6.3% | 7.8% | 10 |
| 2000s | 6.8% | 6.2% | 7.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 7.4% | 6.4% | 8.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 6.9% | 5.4% | 8.4% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Norway
- 39 Curacao 5.4% compare
- 40 Tajikistan 5.4% compare
- 41 Palestine 5.4% compare
- 43 United States 5.4% compare
- 44 South Korea 5.4% compare
- 45 Dominica 5.4% compare
More education data for Norway
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 65.0% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 15.9% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 98.5% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 51,889 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.41 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 98.5% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Norway?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Norway was 5.4% 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 Norway?
- The highest recorded value was 8.4% in 2020.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Norway?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5% in 1870.
- How does Norway rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Norway ranks 42nd out of 199 countries with data for 2022.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Norway?
- Over the last ten years it is down 25.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Norway 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 — 54 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.