Developing countries spend more repaying foreign debt than on education, UN reveals | Global education
According to the UN, most developing countries spent less on education than they repaid their debts last year; At the same time, global aid to education is expected to decrease by up to 30%.
According to research by Unesco, the UN’s cultural and educational institution, more money was spent on foreign debt payment than on education in 113 developing countries in 2025. In sub-Saharan Africa, Countries spent 3.6 times more on debt than on education.
The agency warned that the situation could worsen due to funding cuts. Low- and middle-low-income countries have already lost 21 percent of the education aid they received in 2023 and could lose up to 30 percent by 2027. Some countries, including Afghanistan, Mali, Niger and Liberia, have already lost more than 40 percent in three years.
Min Jeong Kim, director of UNESCO’s education division, said: “Current approaches really keep countries trapped in a cycle of austerity, underinvestment and stalled development.
“This actually weakens countries’ standing on economic growth, erodes domestic revenue mobilization and ultimately reduces their ability to manage their debt over time.”
18 of the most indebted countries spent five times more on debt than they did on education – and Up to 16 times more in the case of Sri Lanka.
According to UK-based campaign group Debt Justice, Repayments from poor countries hit 35-year high last year56 countries spend almost one-fifth of their total income on service loans.
Tim Jones, policy director at Debt Justice, said: “Countries’ debt payments have ballooned following a series of shocks from Covid, rises in energy prices and interest rates, and climate disasters.
“In the worst affected period [countries]“This leads to cuts in spending on basic services such as health and education.”
The situation was exacerbated by aid cuts by the United States and Europe. Education funding cut by $600m (£470m) in 2024figures last recorded and are expected to fall further in 2025.
The combined effect of aid cuts and the diversion of public spending towards debt service has meant disruption to education systems, with schools often not receiving sufficient funding to operate and teachers not being paid.
There are concerns that, in the long term, weakened education systems will affect the ability of indebted countries to develop their economies and better equip themselves to deal with debt burdens in the future.
Unesco said there needed to be a change in how debt relief is structured, moving from short-term aid to long-term arrangements that allow countries to continue funding public services.
Another key factor in changing debt relief is to ensure that private lenders, mostly based in the UK and US, cannot block deals to make more profits for themselves, Jones said. they recently did it with Ethiopia.
“The UK needs to use its G20 presidency in 2027 to make major changes to the debt relief process, including more debt cancellations and a faster process,” he said. “Central to this is embedding the process in English law so that private creditors can no longer disrupt and delay debt relief.”
