Albania continues to finance education at significantly lower levels than European Union countries. In 2023, public spending on education in the country accounted for only 2.9% of Gross Domestic Product, compared to an 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 education spending in the Albanian economy was about 38 percentage points lower than the European average.
To reach the EU average, Albania would need to increase education funding by about 60% relative to the size of the economy.
If included in the ranking of the 27 member states, Albania would have the lowest level of spending on education.
According to Eurostat, at the bottom of the EU ranking was Romania, with 3% of GDP, followed by Greece with 3.3% and Malta with 3.4%.
On the other hand, the countries that devoted the largest share of their economy 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 to Sweden, the weight of Albanian spending was less than half.
At the European Union level, public spending on education remained unchanged at 4.7% of GDP compared to 2022. However, they were 0.3 percentage points lower than in 2020, when they reached 5% of GDP, the highest level since the start of data collection in 2012.
Even compared to the Western Balkans, Albania ranks last in terms of the share of public spending on education. At 2.9% of GDP, the country was about 1 percentage point below the WB6 average of 3.9%.
The latest values 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 pre-school to university and doctoral education, but exclude early childhood educational development programs.
Expenditures include direct funding of educational institutions, as well as scholarships, loans and other transfers to pupils, students and their families./ Monitor
