The latest Education Finance Watch (EFW) 2024 report, a collaborative effort by the World Bank and UNESCO, highlights a decade-long increase in global education spending. Despite this rise, the allocation per child has not significantly improved, particularly in poorer nations with growing populations. The report reveals that total education spending per child has either decreased or stagnated globally.
The EFW report underscores several key findings. Although global education spending has been increasing over the past ten years, many low-income countries still face funding challenges that hinder adequate student learning. "Spending is rising, but it is still not enough to address the learning crisis," states the report.
Furthermore, it emphasizes that increased spending alone is insufficient without considering efficiency and equity. Governments are encouraged to enhance public financial management to allocate resources effectively and improve school management for optimal teacher performance.
Another finding notes a decline in the proportion of development aid allocated to education. From 2019 to 2022, this share fell from 9.3% to 7.6%, as donors shifted priorities towards energy needs, support for Ukraine, and healthcare due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Debt also poses a significant challenge for some low and lower middle-income countries that allocate nearly equal resources per capita to debt servicing as they do to education. The report suggests leveraging innovative financing mechanisms for short-term relief.
Additionally, there is a call for more comprehensive data reporting on educational expenditures by type or level and tracking household out-of-pocket expenses.
Since its inception in 2021, this collaboration between the World Bank (WB), Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report team, and UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has monitored trends in education investment worldwide. The EFW uses diverse sources of economic and financial data from organizations such as WB, UIS, IMF, and OECD.