Education funding in Romania ranks last in the EU as a percentage of GDP. The proportion of young people with higher education is also declining.

Eurostat data show that Romania has the lowest public spending on education in the EU, as a percentage of GDP, both for the entire educational cycle—from preschool through higher education—and for higher education alone. In 2023, Romania allocated 2.97% of its GDP to education, while the EU-27 average was 4.66%, according to Eurostat data processed by Monitorul Social.

In other words, the Romanian government invests just over half of the European average in this area. The difference is just as pronounced when it comes to higher education: Romania has allocated only 0.71% of its GDP, compared to the EU-27 average of 1.21%.

In a European context where economic competitiveness increasingly depends on advanced skills, the data show that Romania continues to treat education as an unimportant area, even though the need for a well-trained workforce is growing.

These low levels of funding are not a one-time occurrence but a persistent trend. Between 2017 and 2023, Romania consistently ranked at the bottom of the European rankings, with no real convergence toward the EU average. In 2017, total spending on education accounted for 2.69% of GDP, and by 2023 it had reached 2.97%—a modest increase that was insufficient to change the country’s position relative to other member states. During the same period, the EU-27 average remained stable at a significantly higher level. A comparison with other European countries shows that Romania’s problem cannot be explained solely by its membership in the former communist bloc. In 2023, Germany spent 4.79% of its GDP on education, Poland 4.54%, and Lithuania 4.34%, all well above Romania’s level. The situation is similar in higher education: Germany allocated 1.30% of GDP, Poland 0.96%, and Lithuania 0.94%, compared to 0.71% in Romania. Even countries that are not part of the European Union’s economic core maintain considerably higher levels of investment, suggesting that in Romania’s case, this is a matter of political and budgetary priorities, not merely a question of economic capacity.

This underfunding is directly reflected in the results of the education system. Romania has the lowest proportion of young people with a higher education degree among all EU27 countries.

Only 18.1% of Romanians aged 20 to 34 have a higher education degree, according to 2025 data, while the EU27 average stands at 37.0%. Higher education (tertiary education) in Romania includes bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral degrees, as well as postgraduate programs, university colleges, and advanced vocational training programs. In this regard, the differences between Romania and other countries are particularly stark: In Germany, more than one-third (32.5%) of the population aged 20–34 has a tertiary education, in Poland 35.6%, and in Lithuania 48.8%. Thus, Romania not only invests little but also produces a much smaller percentage of young people with advanced qualifications.

Even more concerning is the fact that, contrary to the general European trend, Romania is not making progress but is losing ground. In 2017, the share of young people aged 20–34 with higher education was 20.3% in Romania, and by 2025 this had fallen to 18.1%. During the same period, the EU-27 average rose from 31.1% to 37.0%, Germany’s from 24.4% to 32.5%, and Lithuania’s from 43.1% to 48.8%. Poland also remains well ahead of Romania.

At a time when European labor markets and the Romanian economy have an ever-greater need for specialized skills—ones that are difficult to replace through automation—underfunding of education is becoming a structural obstacle to development. Reducing investment or keeping it at very low levels affects not only young people’s individual opportunities but also the economy’s ability to generate added value, innovation, and social mobility. Subjecting education to austerity measures is a risky and costly choice in the long term for Romania’s future.

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Data source: EUROSTAT

• Public expenditure on education by education level and program orientation - as % of GDP [educ_uoe_fine06__custom_21963052]
• Public expenditure on education by education level and program orientation - as % of GDP [educ_uoe_fine06__custom_21963052]
• Population in private households by educational attainment level [edat_lfse_03__custom_21963064]

Data processing and text design: Daniel Sandu

Infographic: Pascalone Media SRL

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