School’s Out?

March 03, 2025 | Grace Colson, Research Associate

While the United States has historically prioritized public spending on education more than other developed countries, there has been a recent convergence in U.S. education expenditure as a percentage of GDP with that of other countries in the OECD, a group of mostly developed and democratic nations. Specifically, in 2000, the U.S. spent 6.1% of total GDP on education, which was notably higher than the OECD average of 4.9% at that time. That said, the U.S. figure dropped to 4.7% in 2016, which was slightly below the 4.8% OECD average that year. Based on this trend, it should come as no surprise that U.S. students are beginning to fall behind their global peers in key academic areas. To that point, U.S. K-12 students ranked 12th and 28th in science and math, respectively, out of 37 OECD member countries in 2022 according to Pew Research. The U.S. average score for math fell by a whopping 13 percentage points between 2018 and 2022 alone.

While the challenges faced by U.S. students due to the COVID-19 pandemic were significant, the fact that U.S. now spends roughly the same as other developed nations (as a percentage of GDP) has certainly contributed to these lackluster scores. Going forward, a renewed focus on education-related spending and outcomes should serve the U.S. well, as a robust public education system helps drive economic growth, stability, and innovation.

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