Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Portugal
Portugal: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 4.6% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Portugal, 1973–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Portugal recorded 4.6% for government spending on education as a share of gdp in 2022.
The figure is down 4.6% on the previous year and down 7.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Portugal peaked at 5.6% in 2009 and was at its lowest, 1.6%, in 1973.
That places Portugal 78th 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 46 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2.6% | 1.6% | 3.1% | 6 |
| 1980s | 3.2% | 3.0% | 3.5% | 10 |
| 1990s | 4.5% | 3.6% | 5.1% | 8 |
| 2000s | 5.1% | 4.7% | 5.6% | 10 |
| 2010s | 5.0% | 4.6% | 5.4% | 9 |
| 2020s | 4.7% | 4.6% | 4.9% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Portugal
More education data for Portugal
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 62.3% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 12.7% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 111.0% (2023)
- Primary education, teachers 52,131 (2023)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.51 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 111.2% (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Portugal?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Portugal was 4.6% 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 Portugal?
- The highest recorded value was 5.6% in 2009.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Portugal?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.6% in 1973.
- How does Portugal rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Portugal ranks 78th out of 199 countries with data for 2022.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Portugal?
- Over the last ten years it is down 7.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Portugal 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 — 46 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.