Education spending as a share of GDP
Percent of GDPFiscal years such as `2010–11` and `2018–19` are plotted at their starting year for the long-run line.
Education
Education
UK education spending, PISA performance, and world university rankings.
Section 1
Education spending, 1990–2025
Long-run UK education spending shown as a share of GDP, followed by the full source table behind the series.
Spending table
| Year | Nominal £bn | % GDP | % gov spending | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | £25bn | 4.3% | — | — |
| 1995 | £37bn | 4.9% | — | — |
| 1998-99 | £40bn | 3.8% | — | Low point in % GDP |
| 2000 | £45bn | 4.4% | — | — |
| 2002 | £55bn | 4.7% | 14.7% | Peak % of gov spending |
| 2005-06 | £65bn | 5% | 13% | — |
| 2009-10 | £90bn | 5.4% | 13% | — |
| 2010-11 | £91.5bn | 5.6% | 13% | Real-terms peak |
| 2015-16 | £85bn | 4.5% | 12% | — |
| 2018-19 | £87bn | 3.9% | 11% | Two-decade low in % GDP |
| 2020-21 | £100bn | 4.4% | 10.4% | % GDP rose due to pandemic GDP fall |
| 2022 | £105bn | 4.2% | 10.6% | — |
| 2024-25 | £118.7bn | 4.1% | 11% | — |
| 2025-26 | £120.8bn | 4.1% | 11% | Budgeted |
Italic rows are approximate: their nominal £bn figure is illustrative rather than fully authoritative.
Section 2
PISA 2022 — 15-year-olds vs the world
OECD PISA scores for maths, reading, and science. Scores are UK-wide; ranks are England-only, as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are reported separately by the OECD.
Mathematics
489
OECD average: 472
England rank: 11th of 81
Rank moved 17th → 11th since 2018 and 27th → 11th since 2009.
Reading
494
OECD average: 476
England rank: 13th of 81
Science
500
OECD average: 485
England rank: 13th of 81
Scores in maths and reading fell in absolute terms versus 2018; the rank improved because OECD-wide scores fell further.
Section 3
QS World University Rankings — top 10, 2021–2026
A six-year snapshot of the global top 10, showing where UK universities held their ground and where US institutions still dominated the table.
| Rank | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MITUS | MITUS | MITUS | MITUS | MITUS |
| 2 | Stanford UniversityUS | University of OxfordUK | University of CambridgeUK | University of CambridgeUK | Imperial College LondonUK |
| 3 | Harvard UniversityUS | University of CambridgeUKTied Stanford UniversityUSTied | Stanford UniversityUS | University of OxfordUK | University of OxfordUK |
| 4 | CaltechUS | — | University of OxfordUK | Harvard UniversityUS | Harvard UniversityUS |
| 5 | University of OxfordUK | Harvard UniversityUS | Harvard UniversityUS | Stanford UniversityUS | University of CambridgeUK |
| 6 | ETH ZurichSwitzerland | CaltechUS | Imperial College LondonUKTied CaltechUSTied | Imperial College LondonUK | Stanford UniversityUS |
| 7 | University of CambridgeUK | Imperial College LondonUK | — | ETH ZurichSwitzerland | ETH ZurichSwitzerland |
| 8 | Imperial College LondonUK | ETH ZurichSwitzerlandTied UCLUKTied | UCLUK | National University of SingaporeSingapore | National University of SingaporeSingapore |
| 9 | University of ChicagoUS | — | ETH ZurichSwitzerland | UCLUK | UCLUK |
| 10 | UCLUK | University of ChicagoUS | University of ChicagoUS | UC BerkeleyUS | CaltechUS |
Cells with multiple universities indicate shared ranks in the published QS table.