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Costa Rica — Education spending
Government Education Spending (% of GDP) for Costa Rica, 1980–2023.
Latest value · 2023
5.31%
Government Education Spending (% of GDP) · % of GDP · -27.7% since 1980
Education spending for Costa Rica was 5.31% in 2023, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 32 years, from 1980 to 2023. The highest recorded value was 7.35% in 1980. The lowest was 3.35% in 1995 (about 1.6× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to -0.75% per year.
Costa Rica ranks 41 of 172 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 24%. The median for Latin America & Caribbean is 4.27%, so Costa Rica sits above it. It peaked in 1980 and has fallen 28% since. Over the last decade (2013–2023) the figure moved down 21%.
Key figures
Latest (2023)
5.31%
First (1980)
7.35%
Change
-27.7%
Highest
7.35%
in 1980
Lowest
3.35%
in 1995
Average
5.57%
Annual growth (CAGR)
-0.75%
Years of data
32
Recent years
| Year | % of GDP |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 5.31% |
| 2022 | 5.55% |
| 2021 | 6.25% |
| 2020 | 6.63% |
| 2019 | 6.74% |
| 2018 | 6.77% |
| 2017 | 7.07% |
| 2016 | 6.89% |
| 2015 | 6.87% |
| 2014 | 6.68% |
| 2013 | 6.69% |
| 2012 | 6.58% |
Reading this correctly. Total general government expenditure on education, expressed as a percentage of GDP. Includes both current and capital spending. Figures are in % of GDP. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS — Government Education Spending (% of GDP). Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.