What is the total government spending for education? How much does it vary in the developping and developped world?

Globally, spending for education increased to 4.9% of GDP in 2007 up from 4.6% of GDP in 1999. 33% percent of this figure accounts for spending for primary education. Of course the numbers on government spending differ substantially from country to country and among the different regions. Indicative of this fact is the spending per student in Sub-Saharan Africa, North America and Western Europe and Latin America. In the first case, expenditure per pupil amounts to $130 in the second $5614 and in the third $972.

Another indication of the disparities is the relationship between the number of students per region and the spending for education (as a percentage of global spending). North America and Western Europe is the leader with 55% total spending when its population 5-25 years old represents less than 10% of the global population in this age group. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan Africa spends 2.4% of total educational budget when the students amount for 15% of global school age.