Cuba Invests More in Education than Any Other Country: Survey

According to a survey conducted by the World Bank this year, Cuba leads the world in education investments.

The report, which looked at public expenditures in education as percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2009-2013, found that the Caribbean island allocates the highest share of its GDP to education, with 13 percent. Cuba was followed by the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor) with an 11.3 percent, then Denmark with 8.7 percent and Ghana with 8.1 percent. 

Bolivia and Venezuela also placed in the top 10 spenders, each with 6.9 percent of their GDP destined to education.

The survey accounted for “public expenditure on education which includes government spending on educational institutions (both public and private), education administration, and transfers/subsides for private entities (students/households and other privates entities).”

During his end of the year State of the Union address Friday, Bolivian President Evo Morales said that “regarding education, we [Bolivia] are the second country in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of investment, after Cuba."

In October, Venezuela marked 9 years since being declared “a country free of illiteracy” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).