Government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of GDP in Iceland
Iceland: Government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of GDP was 0.9% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of GDP in Iceland, 1990–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp in Iceland is 0.9%, measured in 2022.
The figure is down 6.2% on the previous year and up 9.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp in Iceland peaked at 1.0% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 0.0%, in 1990.
Iceland ranks 8th of 169 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 29 years of available data.
Government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of GDP in Iceland, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 0.0% | — |
| 1993 | 0.3% | — |
| 1994 | 0.2% | -6.6% |
| 1995 | 0.0% | -100.0% |
| 1996 | 0.3% | — |
| 1999 | 0.4% | +61.0% |
| 2000 | 0.5% | +5.6% |
| 2001 | 0.5% | +9.8% |
| 2002 | 0.5% | -4.8% |
| 2003 | 0.5% | +0.8% |
| 2004 | 0.5% | -5.3% |
| 2005 | 0.5% | +8.4% |
| 2006 | 0.6% | +20.2% |
| 2007 | 0.6% | +7.4% |
| 2008 | 0.7% | +10.3% |
| 2009 | 0.7% | +3.7% |
| 2010 | 0.7% | -8.2% |
| 2011 | 0.7% | +1.7% |
| 2012 | 0.9% | +26.5% |
| 2013 | 0.9% | +0.7% |
| 2014 | 0.9% | +3.9% |
| 2015 | 0.9% | -3.7% |
| 2016 | 0.8% | -2.1% |
| 2017 | 0.9% | +6.1% |
| 2018 | 0.9% | +2.8% |
| 2019 | 0.9% | -1.4% |
| 2020 | 1.0% | +13.5% |
| 2021 | 1.0% | -3.0% |
| 2022 | 0.9% | -6.2% |
Iceland compared with similar countries
- Iceland's 0.9% is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.4%, 2.4× the median. (65 countries reporting)
- Iceland's 0.9% is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.6%, 1.7× the median. (49 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of GDP in Iceland changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | -100.0% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 1999 | +61.0% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 6 |
| 2000s | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.0% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Iceland
- 5 Sweden 1.0% compare
- 6 Uzbekistan 1.0% compare
- 7 Ecuador 0.9% compare
- 9 Kyrgyzstan 0.9% compare
- 10 Ukraine 0.9% compare
- 11 Russian Federation 0.9% compare
More education data for Iceland
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 0 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 6,661 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 6,167 (2023)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 37,056 (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 32,314 (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate -1.17 % change on previous year (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.0838 units per person (2023)
- Secondary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp in Iceland?
- Government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp in Iceland was 0.9% in 2022, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp recorded in Iceland?
- The highest recorded value was 1.0% in 2020.
- What is the lowest government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp recorded in Iceland?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.0% in 1990.
- How does Iceland rank for government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp?
- Iceland ranks 8th out of 169 countries with data for 2022.
- Is government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of gdp rising or falling in Iceland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 9.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Iceland data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Government expenditure on pre-primary education as a percentage of GDP (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 29 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release