Japan Press Weekly

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2017 September 13 - 19 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Japan, the lowest in public expenditures on education among OECD

Japan’s public expenditure on educational institutions in fiscal 2014 accounted for 3.2 % of its GDP, being at the bottom among OECD member countries.

According to the survey results the OECD released on September 12, the average spending on education in 34 comparable OECD nations was 4.4%. The highest was 6.3% in Denmark followed by 6.1% in Norway and 5.7% in Iceland.

Regarding the percentage of public spending to the total spending for higher education, Japan came in the second lowest at 34% after Britain (28%), less than half of the OECD average of 70%.

The same survey also compared the percentage of women students pursuing a science or engineering university degree, revealing that Japan was again the worst at 16%.

An OECD official pointed out that the burden on household finances is extremely heavy in Japan due to high tuition fees, and that Japan needs to improve public assistance such as increasing scholarships so that qualified students can continue to study.