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Lesotho — Education spending
Government Education Spending (% of GDP) for Lesotho, 1971–2024.
Latest value · 2024
6.62%
Government Education Spending (% of GDP) · % of GDP · +42.7% since 1971
Education spending for Lesotho was 6.62% in 2024, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 28 years, from 1971 to 2024. The highest recorded value was 13.22% in 2003. The lowest was 4.23% in 1974 (about 1.6× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 0.67% per year.
Lesotho ranks 15 of 172 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 9%. The median for Sub-Saharan Africa is 3.61%, so Lesotho sits above it. It peaked in 2003 and has fallen 50% since. Over the last decade (2015–2024) the figure moved down 13%.
Key figures
Latest (2024)
6.62%
First (1971)
4.64%
Change
+42.7%
Highest
13.22%
in 2003
Lowest
4.23%
in 1974
Average
8.48%
Annual growth (CAGR)
0.67%
Years of data
28
Recent years
| Year | % of GDP |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 6.62% |
| 2023 | 7.29% |
| 2018 | 7.28% |
| 2017 | 8.16% |
| 2016 | 7.55% |
| 2015 | 7.64% |
| 2008 | 12.33% |
| 2006 | 11.27% |
| 2005 | 12.08% |
| 2004 | 11.11% |
| 2003 | 13.22% |
| 2002 | 10.1% |
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.