How the EFO Tracks Education Financing

The Education Financing Observatory (EFO) takes a twofold approach to monitoring education financing. On one hand, it tracks a set of key indicators in a consistent and comparative manner across countries, with data available since 2000. This allows for systematic analysis of trends in government financial effort, resource availability, and equity in school access. On the other hand, the EFO highlights in-depth analyses developed by GCE members, which unpack national contexts and provide concrete policy recommendations. Together, these two dimensions combine broad, comparable evidence with locally grounded insights.

Dimensions

1. Public Financial Effort

This dimension measures the resources each country allocates to public education, expressed as the percentage of GDP and the share of the national budget. Since 2015, international benchmarks recommend allocating 4–6% of GDP and 15–20% of government spending to education. For comparability, the EFO tracks progress against the upper benchmark (6% of GDP and 20% of spending).

2. Availability of Resources

This indicator calculates the per capita public education budget available for each school-age person, whether enrolled or not. It covers pre-primary, primary, and secondary education levels and is expressed in current US dollars per capita, providing insights into the resources available to meet every child’s learning needs.

3. Equity in School Access

This dimension examines whether children have equitable access to education through two indicators:

  • Gender Parity Index (GPI)
    • Values close to 1: parity between girls and boys
    • Values above 1: higher attendance by girls
    • Values below 1: higher attendance by boys
  • Wealth Parity Index
    • Values close to 1: parity between richest and poorest households
    • Values above 1: a gap in favor of richer households (higher inequality)
    • Values below 1: a reverse gap, where poorer children attend proportionally more

These indicators are sourced mainly from international databases such as UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the World Bank, ensuring comparability and enabling annual tracking across a growing number of countries.

National Analyses

While the EFO provides comparable indicators based on international data, a more complete and nuanced picture can be found in our members’ country analyses, which include additional data, contextual insights, and tailored policy recommendations. These are available on each country’s page.