Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Panama
Panama: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 2.5% in 2023. ▼ Falling
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Panama, 1970–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
The most recent figure for government spending on education as a share of gdp in Panama is 2.5%, measured in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 40 years on record.
The figure is down 26.8% on the previous year and down 19.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Panama peaked at 4.9% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 2.5%, in 2023.
That places Panama 169th out of 199 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 40 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 3.9% | 3.4% | 4.3% | 10 |
| 1980s | 3.5% | 3.3% | 3.9% | 8 |
| 1990s | 4.1% | 3.5% | 4.8% | 5 |
| 2000s | 4.1% | 3.4% | 4.9% | 6 |
| 2010s | 3.3% | 3.1% | 3.5% | 7 |
| 2020s | 3.5% | 2.5% | 4.3% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Panama
More education data for Panama
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 65.8% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 24.5% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 96.9% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 19,072 (2017)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 2.11 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 97.3% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Panama?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Panama was 2.5% 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 Panama?
- The highest recorded value was 4.9% in 2000.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Panama?
- The lowest recorded value was 2.5% in 2023.
- How does Panama rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Panama ranks 169th out of 199 countries with data for 2023.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Panama?
- Over the last ten years it is down 19.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Panama 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 — 40 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.