Teaching staff compensation as a percentage of total expenditure in tertiary public institutions (%) by country

Teacher compensation expressed as a percentage of direct expenditure in public educational institutions (instructional and non-instructional) of the specified level of education. Financial aid to students and other transfers are excluded from direct expenditure. Staff compensation includes salaries, contributions...

Countries reporting
52
Highest
80.1%
Uruguay
Lowest
0.0%
Côte d'Ivoire
Median
34.5%
Years covered
25
1995–2019
Data points
566

What the numbers show

Teaching staff compensation as a percentage of total expenditure in tertiary public institutions (%) is currently reported for 52 countries. The highest value is 80.1% in Uruguay; the lowest is 0.0% in Côte d'Ivoire.

The median across all reporting countries is 34.5%, and the mean is 38.8%.

Over the past decade 23 countries rose and 24 fell. The largest increase was in Colombia (up 90.7%), and the largest decrease in Côte d'Ivoire (down 100.0%).

Teaching staff compensation as a percentage of total expenditure in: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Uruguay 80.1% 2015 up 50.6% rising
2 Honduras 72.6% 2018 up 24.2% rising
3 Jamaica 68.8% 2019 up 8.2% rising
4 Croatia 68.4% 2017 up 81.2% rising
5 Romania 63.5% 2017 up 15.8% rising
6 Bangladesh 62.2% 2019 up 19.0% rising
7 Paraguay 62.0% 2016 up 6.2% falling
8 Argentina 57.3% 2017 down 2.0% rising
9 Colombia 57.3% 2018 up 90.7% rising
10 Ghana 56.8% 2012 up 25.7% rising
11 Austria 55.6% 2017 up 29.3% rising
12 Mexico 54.3% 2017 up 2.7% falling
13 Bulgaria 51.1% 2017 up 44.8% rising
14 Spain 49.7% 2017 up 10.9% rising
15 Benin 47.6% 2015 up 59.5% rising
16 Burundi 46.5% 2013 rising
17 Belgium 45.3% 2017 down 6.9% falling
18 Switzerland 44.9% 2016 down 7.2% falling
19 Denmark 44.7% 2011 down 7.1% rising
20 Guyana 43.4% 2012 up 0.5% flat
21 Republic of Moldova 43.3% 2014 up 21.8% rising
22 Iceland 42.8% 2017 up 8.5% rising
23 Czechia 42.6% 2017 up 53.0% rising
24 Malaysia 41.5% 2019 down 16.8% rising
25 Slovenia 36.7% 2007 rising
26 Afghanistan 35.0% 2015 down 8.6% flat
27 Malta 34.0% 2017 up 8.2% rising
28 Ireland 33.7% 2017 down 25.5% rising
29 Nepal 33.6% 2015 down 0.0% flat
30 Cyprus 33.5% 2017 down 23.9% falling
31 Mali 32.4% 2017 down 24.3% flat
32 Lithuania 32.4% 2017 down 1.0% falling
33 Armenia 32.0% 2017 down 2.9% rising
34 Italy 31.9% 2017 up 2.0% falling
35 Sri Lanka 31.9% 2015 down 21.2% falling
36 Canada 31.7% 2017 down 6.6% flat
37 Slovakia 31.3% 2017 up 11.9% falling
38 Lao People's Democratic Republic 30.2% 2014 down 5.0% falling
39 Finland 29.6% 2017 down 9.3% falling
40 Australia 29.0% 2017 down 1.2% rising
41 United States of America 28.5% 2017 rising
42 Peru 26.4% 2019 down 42.3% falling
43 South Africa 24.7% 2019 falling
44 Estonia 22.5% 2017 volatile
45 Guinea 20.6% 2019 up 79.2% rising
46 Senegal 16.3% 2016 down 50.3% falling
47 Luxembourg 13.7% 2017 down 3.8% flat
48 Guatemala 13.2% 2019 up 31.6% rising
49 Uganda 11.4% 2014 down 12.2% falling
50 Timor-Leste 9.5% 2014 down 77.5% volatile
51 Andorra 9.4% 2019 down 78.9% falling
52 Côte d'Ivoire 0.0% 2018 down 100.0% flat

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Teaching staff compensation as a percentage of total expenditure in by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 26 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/teaching-staff-compensation-as-a-percentage-of-total-expenditure-in-tertiary-public/

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About this data

Indicator
Teaching staff compensation as a percentage of total expenditure in tertiary public institutions (%)
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
54 places, 566 data points, 1995–2019
Last refreshed

Teacher compensation expressed as a percentage of direct expenditure in public educational institutions (instructional and non-instructional) of the specified level of education. Financial aid to students and other transfers are excluded from direct expenditure. Staff compensation includes salaries, contributions by employers for staff retirement programmes, and other allowances and benefits. To calculate this indicator, divide teacher compensation in public institutions of a given level of education (ex. primary, secondary, or all levels combined) by total expenditure (current and capital) in public institutions of the same level of education, and multiply by 100. Limitations: Although countries responding to the UIS questionnaire on educational expenditure are required to follow common definitions for staff compensation, in some cases government budget classifications may differ. It is also often difficult to separate staff compensation between teachers and non-teachers, as these are usually grouped together in country's accounting systems. In general, respondent countries must use estimation methods to separate teacher and non-teacher staff compensation. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute of Statistics website: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/