Figure 2: Public Expenditure on Education as a Percentage of Total Government
Expenditure, Selected Years, 2007 – 2010
25
20
15
10
5
0
Note: The most recent year is selected during the period 2007‐2010 for which data is available. Data
for Myanmar is taken from UNESCO (2011).
Source: UIS (2012).
Relative government spending on education is clearer when the share of education expenditure as a percentage of GDP is compared (Figure 3). ASEAN+6 countries allocate an average of 4 percent of their GDP to education.
Figure 3: Public Expenditure on Education as a Percentage of GDP, Selected Years,
2007 – 2010
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Note: The most recent year is selected during the period 2007‐2010 for which data is available. Data
for Myanmar is taken from UNESCO (2011).
Source: UIS (2012).
Allocation of financial resources to education sub‐sectors reflects the relative priorities countries give to corresponding education levels (Figure 4). For instance, Thailand spends 6.8 percent of its education budget on pre‐primary education (UIS, 2009), which is much higher than other countries in the region. Indeed in many other countries, private providers largely fund pre‐primary education. High‐income countries tend to spend more on secondary and
higher education, while a large share of the education budget is allocated to primary education
in developing countries, possibly due to limited resources available for education.