Japan spends less on education as a percentage of gross domestic product than all the other member states of the OECD, it was reported in Education at a Glance 2015, a regular survey by the organization that provides data on education systems around the world. Japan's public spending amounts to just 3.5 percent of GDP, the same as Slovakia, at the bottom of the list.
This consistently and shockingly poor level of spending seems to be ignored by the central government and the education ministry. Japan's shamefully low spending, far below the OECD average of 4.7 percent of GDP, is an unsustainable and impossible strategy in the long run. Without sufficient support for public education, the current situation amounts to discrimination against the poor, making higher education almost unaffordable to their children.
Countries like Norway spend 6.5 percent of GDP, while Belgium and Iceland both spend 5.9 percent and New Zealand 5.4 percent. The United States and South Korea come in at the OECD average of 4.7 percent. In Japan, only 34.3 percent of higher education costs are supported through public resources, half of the OECD average of 69.7 percent.