Mexico reduced educational budget from 15 to 13% of total expenditure in 7 years: OECD

Alexia Villaseñor

La Jornada newspaper
Tuesday, September 9, 2025, p. 8

In Mexico, challenges persist at the educational level, since only 60 percent of young people aged 15 to 19 are enrolled (in some education program), below the average of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is 84 percent, and even other countries in the region (Chile 85 percent, Brazil 72 percent), according to its Panorama report of education 2025.

The percentage of children aged 3 to 5 registered in education programs is also lower than the average, as it corresponds to 66 percent, while the average is 85 percent; In addition, this indicator has decreased since 2013, when it was 69 percent in Mexico.

The analyst at the OECD Education Directorate, Viktoria Kis, in virtual interview conducted from Chile with The dayhe explained that this report has administrative data; “That is, it is not a survey, but (governments) gather data such as the number of students, how they progress in the educational system, characteristics in financing in the field.”

He also indicated that this year he focused on higher education. In this area, Mexico “had important advances, for example the percentage of people aged 25 to 34 years of age without full secondary education (Below Upper Secondary Attainment, in English) fell from 49 percent in 2019 to 41 percent in 2024”.

The report said that governments are the main source of financing for education in all OECD countries, especially for compulsory education levels, whose average is 90.1 percent.

“Although the expense per student from primary education to higher increased on average in member countries, between 2015 and 2022, in real terms of 11 thousand 955 dollars (224 thousand 248 pesos) to 13 thousand 210 (247 thousand 789), public spending in education decreased in relative terms of 10.9 percent of public budgets to 10.1 percent,” according to the document.

In the case of Mexico, the student expense decreased from 4,79 dollars (76 thousand 512 pesos) to 3,650 dollars (68 thousand 465 pesos), while the proportion dedicated to education was reduced from 15.8 percent of public budgets to 13.2 percent during the same period.