Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Tonga

Tonga: Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education was 9.3% in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
9.3%
Change on year
up 10.5%
World rank
158th
of 194 countries
All-time high
26.1%
in 1999
All-time low
8.4%
in 2023
Years of data
14
1999–2024

Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Tonga, 1999–2024

101520251999201120241999: 26.1 %2000: 23 %2001: 22.1 %2002: 15.8 %2003: 18.6 %2004: 19.1 %2017: 11.1 %2018: 11.3 %2019: 13 %2020: 10.7 %2021: 10.1 %2022: 9.8 %2023: 8.4 %2024: 9.3 %

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.

Analysis

Tonga recorded 9.3% for share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in 2024.

That represents a change of up 10.5% on the previous year and down 15.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Tonga peaked at 26.1% in 1999 and was at its lowest, 8.4%, in 2023.

That places Tonga 158th out of 194 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 14 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 26.1% 26.1% 26.1% 1
2000s 19.7% 15.8% 23.0% 5
2010s 11.8% 11.1% 13.0% 3
2020s 9.7% 8.4% 10.7% 5

Countries ranked near Tonga

  1. 155 Jordan 9.8% compare
  2. 156 Pakistan 9.8% compare
  3. 157 Maldives 9.6% compare
  4. 159 Qatar 9.3% compare
  5. 160 Cook Islands 9.2% compare
  6. 161 Guinea 9.2% compare

See the full ranking of 194 places →

More economy & growth data for Tonga

All data for Tonga →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Tonga?
Share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education in Tonga was 9.3% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education recorded in Tonga?
The highest recorded value was 26.1% in 1999.
What is the lowest share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education recorded in Tonga?
The lowest recorded value was 8.4% in 2023.
How does Tonga rank for share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education?
Tonga ranks 158th out of 194 countries with data for 2024.
Is share of gdp spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education rising or falling in Tonga?
Over the last ten years it is down 15.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Tonga data come from?
The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of GDP spent on education vs. share of government spending assigned to education. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

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

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