Education · Africa ranking
Education Spending (% of GDP) by African country
Namibia has the highest government education expenditure as a share of GDP of any African country, at 9.1%, ahead of Algeria and Mauritania.
Government expenditure on education as a share of GDP. 40 of 54 countries, ranked · World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2024.
Latest available year varies by country (2023–2025). Only observations within 2 years of the freshest result are included, and each row shows its period.
Namibia
Algeria
MauritaniaBy region
Full ranking
| # | Country | Education Spending (% of GDP) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namibia | 9.1% | |
| 2 | Algeria | 9% | |
| 3 | Mauritania | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Tunisia | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Lesotho | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Senegal | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Eswatini | 6% | |
| 8 | South Africa | 6% | |
| 9 | Morocco | 6% | |
| 10 | Burkina Faso | 5.3% | |
| 11 | Sao Tome and Principe | 5% | |
| 12 | Rwanda | 4.6% | |
| 13 | Burundi | 4.5% | |
| 14 | Seychelles | 4.5% | |
| 15 | Cabo Verde | 4.3% | |
| 16 | Mauritius | 4.2% | |
| 17 | Mali | 4.2% | |
| 18 | Togo | 4.1% | |
| 19 | Niger | 4.1% | |
| 20 | Zambia | 4.1% | |
| 21 | Kenya | 4% | |
| 22 | Cote d'Ivoire | 3.6% | |
| 23 | Republic of the Congo | 3.3% | |
| 24 | Benin | 3.2% | |
| 25 | Chad | 3.2% | |
| 26 | Tanzania | 3.2% | |
| 27 | Madagascar | 3% | |
| 28 | Cameroon | 2.8% | |
| 29 | Gambia | 2.8% | |
| 30 | Sierra Leone | 2.6% | |
| 31 | Angola | 2.5% | |
| 32 | Comoros | 2.3% | |
| 33 | Gabon | 2.3% | |
| 34 | Ethiopia | 2.3% | |
| 35 | Liberia | 2.3% | |
| 36 | Central African Republic | 1.8% | |
| 37 | Guinea | 1.7% | |
| 38 | Zimbabwe | 0.4% | |
| 39 | Nigeria | 0.3% | |
| 40 | Somalia | 0% |
Tunisia
Lesotho
Senegal
Eswatini
South Africa
Morocco
Burkina Faso
Sao Tome and Principe
Rwanda
Burundi
Seychelles
Cabo Verde
Mauritius
Mali
Togo
Niger
Zambia
Kenya
Cote d'Ivoire
Republic of the Congo
Benin
Chad
Tanzania
Madagascar
Cameroon
Gambia
Sierra Leone
Angola
Comoros
Gabon
Ethiopia
Liberia
Central African Republic
Guinea
Zimbabwe
Nigeria
SomaliaGet this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Education Spending (% of GDP) figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=government_expenditure_education_pct_gdp&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Cite or republish this ranking
Data: Africa API — World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2024. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.
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Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest government education expenditure as a share of GDP?
Namibia has the highest government education expenditure as a share of GDP in Africa at 9.1% (2024), followed by Algeria and Mauritania.
Which African country has the lowest government education expenditure as a share of GDP?
Somalia has the lowest government education expenditure as a share of GDP of the 40 African countries with data, at 0% (2023).
How many African countries report Education Spending (% of GDP) data?
40 of 54 African countries have a Education Spending (% of GDP) figure in the Africa API, each from the latest year available for that country (which can differ between countries, here 2023–2025). Every value links to its full series with source and history.
How do I get this ranking via API?
Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=government_expenditure_education_pct_gdp&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.
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