Millions of children returned to school this week, and education is a key driver of social and economic development. According to the World Bank, each additional year of education is associated with a nine percent increase in hourly earnings. From this point of view Al Jazeera analyzes the state of education at the global level, namely which countries invest more in education.

According to data compiled by the Wittgenstein Center, nearly 10 percent of the world’s population over the age of 15 has no formal education, meaning they have not entered or completed first grade.

About 10% of people have completed primary education – from kindergarten to 11-12 years old – and almost 40% of people have completed middle or high school.

Only 12 percent of the world’s population has completed a university education, compared to just 1 percent in 1950.

People with higher levels of education tend to enjoy better health and overall well-being, but an estimated 244 million children between the ages of six and 18 worldwide are not in school.

Top countries of the world that invest the most in education

In 2020, the world spent approximately $5 trillion on education, or 4.33% of global gross domestic product (GDP). To put this in perspective, the world spent about $9 trillion on healthcare and nearly $2 trillion on its military in the same year.

According to UNESCO, in 2020 high-income countries spent almost twice as much on education as low-income countries.

In 2020, the United States spent about 6.05% of GDP on education, while Bolivia led the way in South America with 9.84%.

In Europe, Iceland spent 7.72% of GDP on education, while Sweden spent 7.17% and Belgium 6.71% of GDP, while in Africa, Namibia invested 9.64% of GDP in education.

Greenland, which is an autonomous territory, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, spent 10.15% of its GDP on education.

In Asia, Saudi Arabia is the country that spent the most on education in 2020, allocating 7.81% of GDP.

States that spend the least on education

In the negative top of countries that invest in education are Somalia – 0.27%, Nigeria – 0.53%, Venezuela – 1.34% and Papua New Guinea with 1.35% of GDP allocated to education.

As for Europe, in 2020 Ireland spent on education on a par with Albania – 3.1 GDP, North Macedonia – 3.3, and Serbia – 3.62 GDP.

Thus, Romania would not even be in last place with 3.69% of GDP allocated to education.