Brazil Ranks Last in University Spending, Says OECD

By Richard Mann, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A survey conducted by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) on spending in university education around the world reveals that Brazil is the last among the 39 assessed economies.

The study included countries that are part of the organization, as well as Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Russia, India, Indonesia, and South Africa.

According to the data, private and public spending on each university student in Brazil is equivalent to US$3,720 per year.

In absolute terms, this is the lowest of the 39 economies examined. The data refers to the year 2015, the last period in which there is complete information on all the countries in the group.

According to the survey, the OECD country that spends the most on each of its university students is Luxembourg, with US$48.900.

In second place comes the United States, with US$30,000. The United Kingdom completes the podium with US$26,300.

Sweden, Norway, and Australia spend more than US$20 thousand. Even in Portugal, the expenses are equivalent to US$11.700 per year per university student.

Among Latin American countries, Chile leads with a spending of US$8,400, followed by Mexico and Colombia. Argentina also surpassed Brazil in 2015 with a spending of US$5,000 per student.

Elementary School

In terms of basic education, annual spending in Brazil is US$2,700, compared to US$5,000 in Russia, US$6,000 in Chile, US$7,000 in Portugal and US$11,000 in Germany.

In this category, the leadership belongs to the Scandinavian countries, with spending ten times more than that of Brazil. In Norway, US$17,200 is spent per child per year, against US$14,000 in Sweden and US$13,800 in Iceland.

Despite spending below average, data shows that the percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) assigned to education is equivalent to the rates of rich countries in the group.

In total, public resources for education accounted for 5 percent of GDP in 2015, the same proportion as that allocated by Sweden.

In 2011, however, the Brazilian rate was 5.9 percent. According to OECD experts, the problem is that when the total spent is divided by the number of students in the country, the total amount allocated to each is low.

In 2018, Abraham Weintraub, now Minister of Education, even declared that Brazil “spends as much as the rich and has poor results.”