Ireland vs Malta: Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education

Ireland

12.3%

in 2021

Malta

12.5%

in 2022

Ireland rank

105th

Malta rank

102nd

Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education over time

Malta currently reports 12.5% against 12.3% in Ireland, a difference of 0.2%.

The two have swapped places 5 times across 15 shared years of data; in 2002 it was Ireland ahead.

Globally, Ireland ranks 105th and Malta ranks 102nd of 194 countries.

Indicator: Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education
Unit: %
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 194 places, 4,043 data points, 1980–2025
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Percentage of total general government spending (across all sectors) that is allocated to education.