PART 4: FORMAL AND INFORMAL SUPPORTS
Public Expenditure on Education for Children and Young People
Participation in high-quality early childhood care and education can have positive effects on children's cognitive, language and social development, particularly among children at risk.Public spending plays a fundamental role in improving well-being and the amount of public expenditure for public services is frequently used to assess a country's effort to foster well-being. 57 Strong and dependable public services are vital to extend opportunity, tackle social exclusion and improve people's quality of life. 58
Measure
Public expenditure on education.
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Key findings
- In 2005, Irish expenditure on education as a percentage of Gross National Income (GNI) was higher than the EU27 average of 5.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), although Irish expenditure as a percentage of GDP was lower than the EU average (see Figure 32).
- Public expenditure on education in Ireland decreased from 5.3% of GDP in 1996 to 4.8% of GDP in 2005. In terms of GNI, this represented a slight decrease, from a level of 5.8% in 1996 to 5.6% in 2005.
Figure 32: Public expenditure on education in Ireland and EU27 (1996-2005)
Source: Department of Education and Science; Eurostat
- In 2004 (the last year when international data were available), Ireland's expenditure on education, expressed as a percentage of GNI, was the 8th highest among the EU27 (taken as a percentage of GDP) (see Table 89). Denmark had the highest rate of expenditure, at 8.5% of GDP.
Table 89: Public expenditure on education as % of GDP in EU27 (2002-2004)
| EU Member State | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Denmark | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.5 |
| Sweden | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.2 |
| Cyprus | 6.6 | 7.3 | 6.7 |
| Finland | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| Belgium | 6.1 | 6.1 | 6.0 |
| Slovenia | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 |
| France | 5.6 | 5.9 | 5.8 |
| Ireland (% of GNI) | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.5 |
| Austria | 5.7 | 5.5 | 5.4 |
| Hungary | 5.4 | 5.9 | 5.4 |
| Poland | 5.4 | 5.6 | 5.4 |
| Portugal | 5.5 | 5.6 | 5.3 |
| United Kingdom | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Lithuania | 5.9 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| Netherlands | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.2 |
| EU27 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| Latvia | 5.7 | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| Estonia | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.0 |
| Malta | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.9 |
| Ireland (% of GDP) | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.7 |
| Germany | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.6 |
| Italy | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.6 |
| Bulgaria | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.5 |
| Czech Republic | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Spain | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 |
| Slovakia | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
| Luxembourg | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
| Greece | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| Romania | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
Source: Eurostat
- Real non-capital public expenditure per student in Ireland increased by 105% for first-level and by 86% for second-level over the period 1997-2006 when measured in constant 2006 prices (see Table 90). However, the corresponding increase in expenditure on third-level over the same period was 16% in constant prices.
Table 90: Real non-capital public expenditure on education, by educational level (1997-2006)
| Expenditure per pupil at constant (2006) prices (€) Educational level |
€ million (current prices) |
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| Year | First | Second1 | Third2 | Total non-capital expenditure |
| 1997 | 2,821 | 4,358 | 9,083 | 2,971 |
| 1998 | 3,042 | 4,546 | 8,199 | 3,077 |
| 1999 | 3,225 | 4,731 | 8,598 | 3,333 |
| 2000 | 3,480 | 4,984 | 8,367 | 3,684 |
| 2001 | 3,703 | 5,607 | 8,904 | 4,166 |
| 2002 | 4,243 | 6,243 | 9,313 | 4,765 |
| 2003 | 4,759 | 6,883 | 9,381 | 5,399 |
| 2004 | 5,336 | 7,244 | 9,513 | 5,931 |
| 2005 | 5,527 | 7,657 | 9,966 | 6,365 |
| 2006 | 5,780 | 8,085 | 10,524 | 7,018 |
1 Includes Further Education sector (i.e. Post-Leaving Certificate courses).
2 Based on full-time equivalents.
Source: Department of Education and Science
Technical notes
Non-capital public expenditure on education includes direct public expenditure on educational institutions, public subsidies to other private entities for education matters and public subsidies to households, such as scholarships and loans to students for tuition fees and student living costs.
The expenditure has been deflated to real prices by using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The all items CPI at base December 2001 is shown below:
| December 2001 = 100 | |
| Year | All items CPI |
| 1997 | 85.2 |
| 1998 | 87.2 |
| 1999 | 88.7 |
| 2000 | 93.6 |
| 2001 | 98.2 |
| 2002 | 102.7 |
| 2003 | 106.3 |
| 2004 | 108.6 |
| 2005 | 111.3 |
| 2006 | 115.7 |
Public expenditure on education as used for the international comparison includes both current and capital expenditure.
In the mid-1990s, undergraduate tuition fees were abolished in Ireland. In 1995/96, third-level students paid half-fees and from 1996/97 undergraduate fees were abolished
Educational institutions are defined as entities that provide instructional services to individuals or education-related services to individuals and other educational institutions.
International data are collected through the joint UNESCO-OECD-Eurostat data collection questionnaires on educational finance. Countries provide data coming usually from administrative sources on the basis of commonly agreed definitions.
Data on total public expenditure on education are expressed as a percentage of GDP. National public expenditure as a percentage of GDP is calculated using figures in national currency both for public expenditure and for GDP. European averages are weighted and therefore take into account the relative proportion of the student population or the education expenditure of the considered countries. They are calculated taking into account all relevant countries for which data are available. They are considered of sufficient quality if countries with available data exceed 70% of the population or of the GDP of the European aggregate.
