Albania continues to finance education at significantly lower levels than the countries of the European Union. In 2023, public spending on education in the country accounted for just 2.9% of Gross Domestic Product, compared with the EU average of 4.7%, according to Eurostat data.

The difference amounts to 1.8 percentage points of GDP. In relative terms, the share of spending on education in the Albanian economy was around 38% lower than the European average.

To reach the EU average, Albania would need to increase education funding by around 60% relative to the size of its economy.

If included in the ranking of the 27 member states, Albania would have the lowest level of education spending.

According to Eurostat, Romania was at the bottom of the EU ranking, with 3% of GDP, followed by Greece at 3.3% and Malta at 3.4%.

On the other hand, the countries that devoted the largest share of their economies to education funding were Sweden, with 6.8% of GDP, Finland with 6.3% and Belgium with 6.2%.

Denmark spent 6.1% of GDP. Compared with Sweden, the share of spending in Albania was less than half as large.

At the European Union level, public spending on education remained unchanged at 4.7% of GDP compared with 2022.

Nevertheless, it was 0.3 percentage points lower than in 2020, when it reached 5% of GDP, the highest level since these data began to be collected in 2012.

Even compared with the Western Balkans, Albania ranks last in terms of the share of public spending allocated to education. At 2.9% of GDP, the country was around 1 percentage point below the WB6 average of 3.9%.

The latest figures used by the OECD are 4.7% for Kosovo, 4.4% for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 4.1% for Montenegro, 3.7% for North Macedonia and 3.3% for Serbia.

Eurostat statistics cover public funding for all levels, from preschool to university and doctoral education, but exclude early childhood educational development programs.

Spending includes the direct funding of educational institutions, as well as scholarships, loans and other transfers to pupils, students and their families./MONITOR

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