| Countries listed in order of spending % of GDP, 1991 | |||||
| Rank | Country | Education Spending % of GDP | Higher Education | ||
| All Spending | Public Spending | % of all public | |||
| 1960 | 1991 | 1993-4 (rank) | 1990-94 | ||
| 1. | Norway | 4.6 | 7.6 | 9.2 (1) | 25.9 |
| 2. | Canada | 4.6 | 7.4 | 7.6 (5) | 27.9 |
| 3. | USA | 5.3 | 7.0 | 5.5 (16) | 25.2 |
| 4. | Hungary | .. | 6.7 | 5.5 (17) | 16.0 |
| 5. | Finland | 4.9 | 6.6 | 8.4 (3) | 28.7 |
| 6. | Sweden | 5.9 | 6.5 | 8.4 (4) | 15.8 |
| 7. | Denmark | 4.0 | 6.1 | 8.5 (2) | 25.0 |
| 8. | France | 3.6 | 6.0 | 5.9 (12) | 16.7 |
| 9. | Iceland | .. | 6.0 | 5.4 (21) | 24.6 |
| 10. | Israel | .. | 6.0 | 6.0 (10) | 17.6 |
| 11. | Ireland | 3.0 | 5.9 | 6.4 (7) | 21.5 |
| All Industrial | 4.4 | 5.9 | 5.4 | .. | 21.2 |
| 12. | Netherlands | 4.9 | 5.8 | 5.5 (18) | 32.1 |
| 13. | New Zealand | 2.2 | 5.8 | 7.3 (6) | 36.7 |
| 14. | Luxemburg | .. | 5.8 | 3.1 (18) | 3.3 |
| 15. | Spain | 1.1 | 5.6 | 4.7 (26) | 15.3 |
| 16. | Portugal | 1.8 | 5.5 | 5.4 (22) | 14.2 |
| 17. | Australia | .. | 5.5 | 6.0 (11) | 26.6 |
| 18. | Austria | 2.9 | 5.4 | 5.5 (19) | 18.6 |
| 19. | Belgium | 4.8 | 5.4 | 5.6 (14) | 17.3 |
| 20. | Switzerland | 3.3 | 5.4 | 5.6 (15) | 20.3 |
| 21. | Germany | 2.4 | 5.4 | 4.8 (20) | 21.4 |
| 22. | UK | 3.4 | 5.3 | 5.4 (23) | 22.3 |
| 23. | Japan | 4.9 | 5.0 | 4.7 (27) | .. |
| 24. | Poland | 3.8 | 4.9 | 5.5 (20) | 16.0 |
| 25. | Italy | 4.2 | 4.1 | 5.2 (24) | 13.7 |
| Slovenia | .. | .. | 6.2 (8) | 18.9 | |
| Belarus | .. | .. | 6.1 (9) | 11.1 | |
| Czech Rep. | .. | .. | 5.9 (13) | 17.9 | |
| Source: UNDP, Human Development Report 1997, New York, 1997, Table 31, p.208. | |||||