Education expenditure witnesses 92 pct surge in 2023

ANKARA

Total spending on education across the country reached 1.1 trillion Turkish Liras last year, marking a phenomenal 92.5 increase compared to the figures for 2022, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has announced.

According to the figures announced by TÜİK on Dec. 5, elementary school and preschool saw the largest increases in education spending in 2023, with rises of 109 percent and 107.2 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year.

The data indicated that household contributions made up 7.9 percent of the nation's total education expenditures last year, while government funding accounted for 83.5 percent.

Higher education accounted for 34.4 percent of the expenditures of the state educational institutions, while secondary education accounted for 21.4 percent. Private educational institutions, on the other hand, spent 32.2 percent of their budget on secondary education and 41.4 percent on higher education, the data showed.

In 2023, the cost of education per student climbed to around 49,045 liras from approximately 25,143 liras in the previous year, with the highest per-student spending occurring in tertiary education, standing at 84,759 liras.

Secondary education saw the largest rise in education spending per student in 2023 compared to 2022, with a 110.5 percent increase, followed by preschool education with 106.5 percent.

The gross domestic product (GDP) portion of education spending increased from 3.9 percent in 2022 to 4.3 percent in 2023, with government expenditures on education accounting for 3.1 percent of GDP in 2022 and 3.6 percent in 2023.