UNESCO 2026 scorecard: India barely meets GDP minimum, underfunds education
UNESCO's 2026 SDG 4 Scorecard points out that India is just scraping by on education funding, spending 4.1% of its GDP (barely hitting the 4% minimum), but now putting only 14.2% of its total public expenditure toward education, which is below the recommended 15%.
That's actually a drop from 15.7% in 2015, showing India is moving further from the goal instead of closer.
India lower secondary 86%, upper 51%
India's school completion rates aren't keeping up either: only 86% finish lower secondary school (the target is 99%), and just 51% make it through upper secondary (target: 84%).
Globally, most countries also struggle to meet both UNESCO benchmarks; only 39 out of 205 manage it, while some nations with smaller budgets actually prioritize education more.
The gap highlights how much work remains to make quality education accessible for everyone.