ThemeFinance
One in three countries did not reach either of the finance benchmarks set in the Education 2030 Framework for Action.
Target
Countries spend at least 4% of their GDP on education
International solidarity is needed for the world’s poorest countries to fulfil their children’s right to education.
Aid to education is particularly important in low-income counties where it accounts for 12% of total education spending, or 16%, if household education spending is excluded.
Aid trends
As early as 1970, a UN resolution set the target for Official Development Assistance (ODA) at 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI); Yet ODA levels among OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors have stagnated at some 0.3% of GNI for the past 15 years. The GEM Report has estimated that if this target had been met, an additional US$3.3 trillion in ODA would have been disbursed between 1990 and 2016. Of the 30 OECD DAC donors, only Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom were spending more than 0.7% in 2020 – but the United Kingdom reduced its spending to 0.5% in 2021.
Only a few countries spend more than 0.7% of their income on aid
The share of education in total aid increased from 8.2% in 2013 to 9.3% in 2019, but has decreased in recent years reaching 7.6% in 2022, despite strong advocacy efforts to prioritize education in aid portfolios. By contrast, the share of health in total aid has been increasing.
Education has been receiving a falling share of total aid
In a context of a constant share of aid in total income and a falling share of education in total aid, the trajectory of aid to education since the early 2000s is characterised by three stages: a considerable increase up to 2010, a slight decrease until 2014 as a result of the financial crisis, and then an increase in the following years.
Aid to education has increased slowly since 2015
Aid to education peaked in 2022 at US$16.6 billion, up from USD 14.3 billion in 2021, growing in real terms by 16% year on year.
The share of aid to secondary education has been increasing (from 20% in 2010 to 26% in 2022), at the expense of basic education (from 52% to 46%). Post-secondary education remained constant around 28%.
Largest donors
The top five donors – the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) – account for more than 40% of total aid to education. But their priorities vary considerably.
The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is not shown alongside other donors, as it channels other donors’ funds to support the implementation of national education sector plans. The active implementation grant portfolio decreased slightly, from $2.8 billion in 2022 to $2.4 billion in 2023, largely due to the closure of $636 million in grants in 2023. Grant approvals peaked at US$1.2 billion in 2021, driven by accelerated COVID-19 response grants, then returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and 2023, with approvals of $267 million and $398 million, respectively. Annual GPE disbursements were about US$500 million around the mid-2010s but fell sharply in the late 2010s. Total disbursement increased from US$262 million in 2019 to US$470 million in 2022 and to US$521 million in 2023.
GPE disbursements slowed down in 2015–2019 but have picked up since
UNICEF is another major funder of education: its 2023 annual report shows that it spent US$1.74 billion on education including emergencies, or 23% of its total resources, of which US$163 million was drawn from regular resources and US$1.1 billion from funds earmarked for specific programmes. But officially, UNICEF disbursements amounted to just US$68 million per year in 2021–2022. The discrepancy is because, first, 23% of UNICEF revenue is from private sources and is therefore not recorded as ODA, and second, UNICEF does not report regular, earmarked or humanitarian funds to the aid database, only thematic funds.
Equity
Volume of aid is not the only important consideration. It also matters how effective aid is and how equitably it is allocated. There are several ways to look at equity in aid.
First, the share of total aid to education going to low-income countries plays a significant role in providing aid equitably. It was relatively stable between 2010 and 2021 at about 22%, followed by a sharp fall to 16% in 2022, according to recent estimates, these countries host one third of the out-of-school children of primary school age. The share of Total aid to education that Norway allocates to low-income countries, for instance, has gradually increased from a low of 17% in 2007 to 35.5% in 2022.
The top 10 donors to low-income countries' education sectors from 2020 to 2022 show the World Bank as the largest contributor, with over USD 600 million, mainly in unspecified and basic education. The United States ranks second, focusing on basic and post-secondary education, with around USD 300 million. Germany, Norway, and the EU Institutions also contribute substantially, with Germany supporting all education levels according to its strategy.
Second, considering that the poorest children are more likely not to even complete primary school, the share of aid allocated to basic education is another indication of equity orientation.
Some donors are better at targeting their aid to those most in need
Third, donors may spend very different amounts per child between countries, even between those at the same level of education development.
Donors spend very different amounts per child in countries
Sub-Saharan Africa
Comparing regions, the largest recipient of aid to education in 2022 was sub-Saharan Africa (US$4.4 billion), followed by Northern Africa and Western Asia (US$3.5 billion). In total, around a quarter of donors' aid to basic education is allocated to sub-Saharan Africa, home to 55% of the world's out of school children.
The World Bank is the largest donor to education in sub-Saharan Africa. Its support, which fluctuated around US$500 million in the 2000s, more than tripled from US$379 million in 2015 to US$1.1 billion in 2021 and further increased to US$1.9 billion in 2022. The increase was particularly significant in basic education, rising from US$490 million in 2021 to US$950 million in 2022. The United Kingdom has reduced their direct funding to the region, but this is because it has shifted funds to support the Global Partnership for Education, which focuses on low-income countries and in particular on Sub-Saharan Africa.
Some donors have increased aid to sub-Saharan Africa
This flow diagram below of the 10 largest donors to sub-Saharan Africa shows that only 30% of direct aid to education goes straight to recipient countries, with the remainder going through donors’ own aid agencies, international and domestic NGOs and multilateral organizations, including GPE and UNICEF. Of the 10 largest donors, only the World Bank channels funds directly to recipient countries while bilateral donors such as the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States allocate no more than 20% of aid to recipient countries. As a result, one third of the aid from the top 10 donors goes to unspecified recipient countries.
Much of aid flows to sub-Saharan Africa through complex channels
Conclusion
Aid is an important source of education financing in low-income countries, which must be analysed jointly with domestic public and private funding. In addition to increasing the funds available for education, equitable distribution needs to be strengthened. In order to achieve the global education goal, SDG 4, it is important that countries and donors take responsibility and fulfil their commitments.
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