Educational expenditure indicators reveal how much is spent on education, where the resources come from and how they are directed to educational institutions. This introduction describes the framework that underpins the indicators presented in the following chapters and sets out the accounting principle used to calculate expenditure data.
Education at a Glance 2024
OECD Indicators
Education at a Glance
The framework that underpins the education finance indicators contained in Part C is built around three dimensions:
The location of service providers (within or outside of educational institutions). This dimension distinguishes between the spending that occurs in educational institutions and spending that takes place outside them. In this context, educational institutions include both teaching institutions (e.g. schools and universities) and non-teaching institutions, such as education ministries and other agencies directly involved in providing and supporting education. Spending outside educational institutions covers items such as books and computers purchased outside institutions, fees for private tutoring, student living costs and the cost of student transport not provided by educational institutions.
The type of goods and services (core or peripheral goods and services). This dimension allows spending on core educational purposes to be differentiated from other education-related expenditures. Core educational goods and services include expenditure directly related to instruction and education. This includes all expenditure on teachers, maintenance of school buildings, teaching materials, books, tuition outside schools and the administration of schools. Other education-related expenditure refers to other expenditure in the context of education. For example, educational institutions may offer ancillary services, such as meals, transport and housing. At tertiary level, spending on research and development can be significant.
The source of funds that finance the provision or purchase of these goods and services (government, private or international sources). The framework distinguishes between three sources of funds. Government expenditure refers to spending by public authorities (i.e. central, regional and local governments). Private expenditure refers to spending by households and other private entities (e.g. companies). International funds consist of funds from public multilateral organisations for development aid to education. Expenditure by sources of funds can be analysed either before or after transfers between different entities. The term “initial source of funds” refers to the source before transfers (i.e. where the money originates), while “final source of funds” refers to the source after transfers (i.e. where the money is ultimately spent on education). Transfers may take different forms. For example, public transfers to private entities include public subsidies to households (e.g. scholarships and grants) and public subsidies to other private entities (e.g. subsidies to private companies that provide apprenticeships). Intergovernmental transfers of funds refer to transfers between different levels of government.
The table below depicts how these three dimensions intersect in practice, with some examples of types of expenditure. The first dimension (location of spending) is represented by the horizontal axis. The second dimension (types of goods and services) is represented by the vertical axis. The third dimension (sources of funding) is represented by the colours in the cells. Funds from the public sector and international agencies are indicated by light blue, and private funds by medium blue. Where private expenditure on education is subsidised by public funds, this is indicated by grey cells. The uncoloured cells indicate the parts of the framework that are excluded from the coverage of the finance indicators in Education at a Glance.
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Location of service providers |
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Types of goods and services |
Spending on educational institutions (e.g. schools, universities, educational administration and student welfare services) |
Spending on education outside educational institutions (e.g. private purchases of educational goods and services, including private tutoring) |
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Spending on core educational goods and services |
Public and international funds e.g. public spending on instructional services in educational institutions |
Publicly subsidised private funds e.g. subsidised private spending on books, materials or fees for private tutoring |
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Publicly subsidised private funds e.g. subsidised private spending on instructional services in educational institutions |
Private funds e.g. private spending on books and other school materials or private tutoring |
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Private funds e.g. private spending on tuition fees |
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Educational peripheral goods and services |
Spending on research and development |
Public and international funds e.g. public spending on university research |
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Private funds e.g. funds from private industry for research and development in educational institutions |
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Spending on educational services other than instruction |
Public and international funds e.g. public spending on ancillary services such as meals, transport to schools, or housing on the campus |
Publicly subsidised private funds e.g. subsidised private spending on student living costs or reduced prices for transport |
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Publicly subsidised private funds e.g. public subsidies for lodging, meals, health other than services, or other welfare services furnished to instruction students by the educational institutions |
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Private funds e.g. private spending on fees for ancillary services |
Private funds e.g. private spending on student living costs or transport |
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In keeping with the system used by many countries to record government expenditures and revenues, educational expenditure data are compiled on a cash accounting rather than an accrual accounting basis. Therefore expenditure (both capital and current) is recorded in the year in which the payments occurred. In particular:
Capital acquisitions are counted fully in the year in which the expenditure occurs.
Depreciation of capital assets is not recorded as expenditure, although expenditure on repairs and maintenance is recorded in the year it occurs. This can result in sharp fluctuations in expenditure from year to year owing to the start or completion of school building projects which, by their nature, are sporadic.
Expenditure on student loans is recorded as the gross loan outlay in the year in which the loans are made, without subtracting repayments or interest payments from existing borrowers.
A notable exception to the cash accounting rules is the treatment of the retirement costs of educational personnel in situations where there are no (or only partial) ongoing employer contributions towards the future retirement benefits of the personnel. In these cases, countries are asked to impute these expenditures to arrive at a more internationally comparable cost of employing the personnel.