United States Spends $1.3 Trillion on Education

The United States tops every other country in overall education spending, investing $1.3 trillion across all levels. That's more than seven times the next top contender, Germany, which spends $189.4 billion on education. However, we're only number 8 in terms of education spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product. While US investment is 6.2%, Norway allocates 7.9%, Denmark 7.8% and Iceland 7.7%. Also, whereas this country spends an average per capita of $4,048, that's just two-thirds (68%) of what Norway allocates per person ($5,967).

The research was undertaken by Ezra, a 50-year-old company in the talent and learning and development business that provides coaching across entire organizations. Ezra analyzed data from the World Bank on education spend as a percentage of GDP in each nation and what this investment equated to in terms of total spend and spend-per-person.

The project found that Scandinavian countries accounted for the top four countries in investment per person. Besides Norway, Iceland spent an average of $5,127 per person, Denmark $4,703 and Switzerland $4,206. Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Australia also ranked within the top 10.

Of the 20 countries included in the analysis, Hong Kong came in at the bottom, spending the equivalent of $1,856 per person. That's just $448 less than the United Kingdom, which allocated $2,304.

"Access to a good education is the vital first step usually available to us when building our own personal and professional development. Although we don't realize it when we're younger, it lays the foundations for us to progress later in life and can be vital to our success in the professional world. However, the chance to better ourselves through education doesn't end at school or college and investment into adult education has also been an area of focus over recent years. While these nations present some of the best investment in terms of spend per person, it's also important to remember that the availability of a good education system doesn't guarantee success, in the same way a lack of access doesn't guarantee failure. Once provided with the raw materials, it's down to the individual to build on them and this takes hard work and dedication," noted Ezra Founder Nick Goldberg, in a press release.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • translucent lock composed of interconnected nodes and circuits at the center

    Cloud Security Alliance: Best Practices for Securing AI Systems

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit organization whose mission statement is defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, has released a new report offering guidance on securing systems that leverage large language models (LLMs) to address business challenges.

  • a stylized magnifying glass and a neural network pattern with interconnected nodes, symbolizing search and AI processes

    OpenAI Unveils SearchGPT AI-Powered Search Engine

    OpenAI has introduced SearchGPT, a new AI-powered search engine designed to access information from across the internet in real time. The much-anticipated prototype will provide more organized and meaningful search results by summarizing and contextualizing information rather than returning lists of links.

  • open laptop with screen depicting a glowing, holographic figure surrounded by floating symbols of knowledge like books, equations, and lightbulbs

    Cengage Intros Gen AI Student Assistant Beta

    Ed tech company Cengage has announced the beta launch of Student Assistant, a generative AI tool designed to guide students through the learning process with personalized resources and feedback.

  • closeup of laptop and smartphone calendars

    2024 Tech Tactics in Education Conference Agenda Announced

    Registration is free for this fully virtual Sept. 25 event, focused on "Building the Future-Ready Institution" in K-12 and higher education.