Education with the lowest budget / Albania spends only 2.9% of GDP, significantly below the EU average

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 (GDP), 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 education spending in the Albanian economy was around 38 percentage points lower than the European average. To reach the EU average level, 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 EU member states, Albania would have the lowest level of education spending. According to Eurostat, Romania ranked last among EU countries, at 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 were Sweden, at 6.8% of GDP, Finland at 6.3%, and Belgium at 6.2%. Denmark spent 6.1% of GDP. Compared with Sweden, Albania’s share of education spending was less than half.

At the European Union level, public spending on education remained unchanged at 4.7% of GDP compared with 2022. However, it was 0.3 percentage points lower than in 2020, when it reached 5% of GDP, the highest level since data collection began in 2012.

Compared with the Western Balkans, Albania also 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 of education, from pre-primary to university and doctoral education, but exclude early childhood educational development programs. Spending includes direct funding of educational institutions, as well as scholarships, loans, and other transfers to pupils, students, and their families.

"KORÇA BOOM"