Definition Total public expenditure on education ( current and capital ) expressed as a percentage of the Gross National Product (GNP) in a given financial year.
Purpose This indicator shows the proportion of a country's wealth generated during a given financial year that has been devoted by government authorities to the development of education.
Calculation method Divide total public expenditure on education by the GNP of the country and multiply by 100.
Formula
%
Where :
%
= Percentage
public expenditure on education in financial year t.
= Total Public
expenditure on Education in financial year t.
= Gross National
Product in financial year t.Data required Total public expenditure on education and the Gross National Product for a given year.
Data sources Annual financial reports by central or federal governments, state or provincial or regional administrations. Data on GNP are normally available from National Accounts reports from the Bureau of Statistics.
Type of disaggregation This indicator is normally calculated at the national level only.
Interpretation In principle a high percentage of public expenditure on education denotes a high level of attention given to financial investment in education by the government; and vice versa.
Quality standards Total public expenditure on education should include those incurred by all concerned ministries and levels of administration. Total public expenditure on education refers to all expenditure on education by the central or federal government, state governments, provincial or regional administrations and expenditure by municipal and other local authorities. Central government includes ministerial departments, agencies and autonomous institutions which have education responsibilities. The statistics on expenditure should cover transactions made by all departments or services with education responsibility at all decision-making levels.
Limitations In some instances data on total public expenditure on education refers only to the Ministry of Education, excluding other ministries that spend a part of their budget on educational activities.