The share of government expenditure devoted to education allows an assessment of the priority a government assigns to education relative to other public investments, as well as a government's commitment to investing in human capital development. Countries with younger populations may spend more on education in relation to other sector such as health or social security, and vice-versa.
Government expenditure on education, total (% of government expenditure)
Data on government expenditure on education may refer to spending by the ministry of education only (excluding spending on educational activities by other ministries). In addition, definitions and methods of data on total general government expenditure may differ across countries.
General government expenditure on education (current, capital, and transfers) is expressed as a percentage of total general government expenditure on all sectors (including health, education, social services, etc.). It includes expenditure funded by transfers from international sources to government. General government usually refers to local, regional and central governments.
Expenditure on education, total (% of government expenditure) is calculated by dividing total government expenditure on education by the total government expenditure on all sectors and multiplying by 100. Aggregate data are based on World Bank estimates.

Data on education are collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics from official responses to its annual education survey. All the data are mapped to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) to ensure the comparability of education programs at the international level. The current version was formally adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2011. Data on total general government expenditure were previously collected from countries through the annual questionnaire, but are from the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook database since January 2014. Therefore, current data cannot be compared with data in earlier editions. 

The reference years reflect the school year for which the data are presented. In some countries the school year spans two calendar years (for example, from September 2010 to June 2011); in these cases the reference year refers to the year in which the school year ended (2011 in the example).