Education Spending Across CARICOM Ranges From Under 3% to Over 6% of GDP

Government spending on education varies widely across CARICOM. Seven member states allocate above the global average of 3.5% of GDP, but six, plus Haiti at under 1%, sit below it.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines leads the region at 6.5%, followed by Jamaica (5.5%), Dominica (5.4%), and Grenada (5.1%). A middle tier – Belize, St. Lucia, and Barbados – sits above the world average but below the 4.8% benchmark for small states globally, a peer group facing similar structural constraints to much of the Caribbean. Below the world average sit St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and The Bahamas.

Since 2015, Suriname’s education spending has nearly halved amid broader fiscal pressures, falling from 5.5% to 2.9%. Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have also declined by more than a percentage point. Meanwhile, Dominica and St. Vincent have increased spending over the same period.

The regional debate on education has focused largely on outcomes – pass rates, curricula, and teaching quality. This data suggests that the inputs deserve equal attention.

Source: World Bank, Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP). Most recent year available per country (2023–2024). Guyana excluded due to data availability (latest 2018). Small states defined by the World Bank as countries with populations of 1.5 million or below.

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