Over the last 20 years, the focus of public education spending in middle-income countries has shifted away from primary education towards secondary and tertiary education (Table 2), even as absolute figures for **–** public spending have generally increased for all levels of education. In 1998 2001, lower-middle-income **–** countries spent half of their public education resources on primary education, but in 2010 13, this share dropped to 42 percent. The shift of public education spending away from primary education has mainly benefited secondary education, with its share increasing from 33 to 42 percent over the same period. A similar trend is evident for upper-middle-income countries but not for low-income and high-income **–** countries. However, since 2010 13, high-income countries have seen a shift in funding emphasis from secondary to tertiary education (Table 2).

**<u>Table 2: Composition of Education Spending, by Income Groups and Regions (%)</u>**

||19|98**–**200|1|2|002**–**05||2|010**–**13||2|014**–**1|7|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Pri.|Sec.|Tert.|Pri.|Sec.|Tert.|Pri.|Sec.|Tert.|Pri.|Sec.|Tert.|
|**Income Groups**|||||||||||||
|LIC|51|29|20|58|25|17|51|28|21|50|27|24|
|LMIC|50|33|17|46|34|19|42|38|20|42|42|17|
|UMIC|43|36|21|43|38|18|36|42|22|35|41|24|
|HIC|31|45|23|30|46|24|31|43|26|31|41|28|
|**Regions**|||||||||||||
|AFR|48|32|19|50|31|19|47|32|21|45|31|24|
|ECA|26|49|25|29|47|24|27|47|26|28|46|26|
|LCR|47|34|19|45|37|18|42|35|22|40|36|24|
|SAR|48|36|17|42|45|13|42|38|20|45|39|15|
|EAP|44|33|23|43|34|23|40|36|24|38|40|23|
|MNA|36|44|19|34|43|22|32|45|23|37|38|25|
|**All countries**|41|38|21|41|39|21|39|39|23|37|39|24|

_Source:_ World Bank calculations using UIS and IMF online databases. _Note:_ The figures in the tables show the percentage of the public budget spent on each education level. Pri. = Primary, Sec. = Secondary, and Tert. = Tertiary. Income groups are defined by World Bank country income group classifications as of 2017. LIC = low-income country, LMIC = lower-middle-income country, UMIC = uppermiddle-income country, and HIC = high-income country. AFR = Africa, ECA = Europe and Central Asia, LCR = Latin America and Caribbean, SAR = South Asia, EAP = East Asia and the Pacific, and MNA = Middle East and North Africa.

How regions spend their public education funds often mirrors the spending patterns of the income group into which most of a region’s countries fall. For example, trends in public education spending in Africa and Europe and Central Asia tend to resemble spending patterns for low-income countries, while trends for Europe resemble those for high-income countries. Patterns and trends in South Asia appear to mirror those for lower-middle-income countries. Both Latin America and the Caribbean and East Asia and the Pacific have shifted spending from primary to post-primary education over the last 20 years, reflecting the regions’ strong economic growth and the resulting expansion of their education systems. The Middle East and North Africa has experienced strong shifts in public education spending from secondary to tertiary education even though public education spending in the region has seen limited growth in absolute terms.

# **_Spending Trends Can Vary Widely across Countries in the Same Region or Income Group_**

These regional and income group averages mask large differences among individual countries. For example, Figure 4 (above) highlighted the large increases in public education spending’s share in GDP in Africa over the last 20 years, but government education spending as a share of GDP actually declined in some countries, such as Sierra Leone and Cabo Verde. There has also been significant variation in the magnitude of the increases. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the share of GDP allocated to public 13