Performance in education is uneven, even at similar levels of spending.
McKinsey & Company
¹HLO scores are standardized, comparable achievement scores for K–12 students. They are based on international assessments (the Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA], Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS], and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study [PIRLS]) and regional assessments (the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality [SACMEQ], Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems [PASEC], Latin American Laboratory for the Assessment of the Quality of Education [LLECE], and Early Grade Reading Assessment [EGRA]). Eleven countries are imputed by World Bank using the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning method, which relies on national assessments. Countries spending less than $3,000 per student with K–12 age populations of less than 5 million are excluded from the chart, unless they have the highest or lowest HLO score in their spending group.
²Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³Democratic Republic of Congo.
⁴To ensure government spending was comparable across the countries analyzed, internationally comparable data sources were used in the following order: UNESCO, World Bank, OECD. More than 80% of the data is from 2017–20. Where data was scarce, data from as early as 2014 was used and adjusted for inflation. For countries with no internationally comparable data available from 2014–20, a GDP per-capita model or government websites were employed.
Source: Eurostat; OECD; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; World Bank
Educational performance by nation by annual public expenditure per student
CLICK TO VIEW
HLO,¹
Annual public expenditure per student,⁴
score
$ (purchasing-power parity)
600
525
475
425
375
500
400
300
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
GREAT
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BELOW POOR
575
550
525
475
450
425
375
350
325
Educational performance by nation by annual public expenditure per student
CLICK TO VIEW
Performance in education is uneven, even at similar levels of spending.
McKinsey & Company
¹HLO scores are standardized, comparable achievement scores for K–12 students. They are based on international assessments (the Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA], Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS], and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study [PIRLS]) and regional assessments (the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality [SACMEQ], Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems [PASEC], Latin American Laboratory for the Assessment of the Quality of Education [LLECE], and Early Grade Reading Assessment [EGRA]). Eleven countries are imputed by World Bank using the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning method, which relies on national assessments. Countries spending less than $3,000 per student with K–12 age populations of less than 5 million are excluded from the chart, unless they have the highest or lowest HLO score in their spending group.
²Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³Democratic Republic of Congo.
⁴To ensure government spending was comparable across the countries analyzed, internationally comparable data sources were used in the following order: UNESCO, World Bank, OECD. More than 80% of the data is from 2017–20. Where data was scarce, data from as early as 2014 was used and adjusted for inflation. For countries with no internationally comparable data available from 2014–20, a GDP per-capita model or government websites were employed.
Source: Eurostat; OECD; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; World Bank
HLO,¹
score
600
575
550
525
525
475
425
375
500
475
450
425
400
375
350
325
300
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
GREAT
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BELOW POOR
Annual public expenditure per student,⁴
$ (purchasing-power parity)
Educational performance by nation by annual public expenditure per student
CLICK TO VIEW
Performance in education is uneven, even at similar levels of spending.
McKinsey & Company
¹HLO scores are standardized, comparable achievement scores for K–12 students. They are based on international assessments (the Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA], Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS], and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study [PIRLS]) and regional assessments (the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality [SACMEQ], Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems [PASEC], Latin American Laboratory for the Assessment of the Quality of Education [LLECE], and Early Grade Reading Assessment [EGRA]). Eleven countries are imputed by World Bank using the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning method, which relies on national assessments. Countries spending less than $3,000 per student with K–12 age populations of less than 5 million are excluded from the chart, unless they have the highest or lowest HLO score in their spending group.
²Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³Democratic Republic of Congo.
⁴To ensure government spending was comparable across the countries analyzed, internationally comparable data sources were used in the following order: UNESCO, World Bank, OECD. More than 80% of the data is from 2017–20. Where data was scarce, data from as early as 2014 was used and adjusted for inflation. For countries with no internationally comparable data available from 2014–20, a GDP per-capita model or government websites were employed.
Source: Eurostat; OECD; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; World Bank
HLO,¹
score
600
575
550
525
525
475
425
375
500
475
450
425
400
375
350
325
300
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
$14,000
GREAT
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BELOW POOR
Annual public expenditure per student,⁴
$ (purchasing-power parity)