24 September 2025

Household Expenditure Survey on Education

2023-2024 academic year

Main results

Household expenditure on education totalled 27,806 million euros in the 2023-2024 academic year. Of this figure, 22,680 million euros were spent on services and 5,126 million euros were spent on goods.
The average expenditure per student stood at 2,056 euros: 1,677 euros on services and 379 euros on goods for educational purposes.
Official education services accounted for expenditure totalling 18,628 million euros. Non-official education services accounted for 4,052 million euros.
Official education services cost 1,668 euros per student, compared with the figure of 300 euros for non-official education.

More information

Detailed results

The expenditure of Spanish households on education during the 2023/2024 academic year totalled 27,806 million euros. 81.6% was spent on services (22,680 million euros) and 18.4% was spent goods (5,126 million euros).

The average expenditure per student amounted to 2,056 euros, with 1,677 euros corresponding to services and 379 euros to goods.

Homes and students

The total number of people who carried out official and non-official studies in the 2023/2024 academic year was 13,523,500. By sex, 48.2% were men and 51.8% were women.

By nationality, 87.7% of the students were Spanish, 8.8% were foreigners and 3.5% had dual nationality.

By age, the largest number of students corresponded to the 15 to 19-year-old range (19.3% of the total), followed by the 10 to 14-year-old group (18.5%) and the 5 to 9-year-old group (15.8%).

For their part, people aged 45 and over accounted for 8.8% of the total number of people who carried out some type of study. Of them, 62.1% were women.

Number of students according to sex and age range. 2023-2024 academic year

Goods acquired for educational purposes

The total expenditure of households on the acquisition of goods for educational purposes was 5,126 million euros. The average expenditure per household on these goods was 683 euros.

As for the distribution by type of good, the highest average expenses per household corresponded to the acquisition of Computer products (199 euros).

Total spending, average spending per household and average spending per student on goods acquired for educational purposes. 2023-2024 academic year

Absolute values and percentages

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Official studies: Educational services

Household spending on official educational services totalled 18,628 million euros. The highest disbursement corresponded to Enrolment and teaching classes (50.4% of the total).

As for Meal plans, they accounted for 14.6% of the total expenditure, while Other complementary activities accounted for 11.5%.

The average spending per student/user on Enrolment and teaching classes was 841 euros, while it amounted to 809 euros on Meal Plans and 546 euros on Private and reinforcement classes. However, the highest average expenditure was on Other complementary services (transport, accommodation, etc.), totalling 1,118 euros.

Total expenditure and average expenditure per student/user on official educational services.
2023-2024 academic year

Absolute values and percentages

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Official studies by study level

By study level, the highest percentage of expenditure corresponded to University studies, with 41.8% of the total. Primary Education accounted for 18.9% and Compulsory Secondary Education accounted for 13.3%.

As for the average expenditure per student, the highest amounts were spent on Other higher education studies (4,965 euros), University studies (3,466) and Baccalaureate (1,739).

In contrast, the lowest average expenditures corresponded to Other studies in secondary education (134 euros) and Vocational Training and Intermediate Level Cycles (524 euros).

Total expenditure and average expenditure per student in educational services for official studies by study level. 2023-2024 academic year

Absolute values and percentages

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Official studies by education type

69.4% of students pursued their official studies in a public centre. On the other hand, 18.1% did so in a subsidised centre and 12.6% did so in a private centre.

Regarding spending by education type, 47.8% corresponded to public education, 34.8% to private education and 17.4% to subsidised education.

By level of studies, 38.3% of spending on Early Childhood Education corresponded to public education, 34.2% to private education and 27.5% to subsidised education. In Primary Education, 44.5% of the expenditure was on subsidised education, 39.1% was on public education and 16.4% was on private education.

In Secondary Education, 50.1% of the expenditure corresponded to private education, 26.9% to public education and 23.1% to subsidised education. Lastly, in Higher Education, 63.4% of the spending was on private education, 36.1% on public education and 0.6% on subsidised education.

The average expenditure per student on public education was 837 euros, while 1,604 euros were spent on subsidised education and 6,352 euros were spent on private education.

Average expenditure per student on official educational services by educational level and education type. 2023-2024 academic year

Average expenditure in euros

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Non-official studies

Household expenditure on non-official educational services totalled 4,052 million euros. Of this figure, 41.9% corresponded to non-official language studies, 24.6% to preparation for entrance exams and competitive examinations and 17.4% to artistic education.

Expenditure on educational services for non-official by type of study and age range. 2023-2024 academic year

Expenditure in thousands of euros

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If the results are analysed by study type and age range, we can see that the highest contribution to spending on language studies (51.2% of the total) corresponded to the 0-14 year-old group. In artistic education, those under 15 years of age contributed the most to overall expenditure (65.8%).

Regarding entrance exams and competitive examinations, the greatest contribution was made by people aged between 25 and 44, with 57.8% of the total, while those with the highest expenditure on other non-official studies were those aged between 25 and 44, with 53.0% of the total.

Data revisions and updates

The data published today are final. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.

Methodological note

The Survey on Expenditure of Households in Education (SEHE) is a multi-annual statistical investigation aimed at the group of households in which people are studying. Its main objective is to understand household expenditure on education, both in terms of spending on educational services and in terms of spending on goods acquired for a predominantly educational purpose.

This survey was carried out for the first time in 2007 (as a model integrated into the Household Budget Survey). In 2011/2012 it was carried out for the second time as an independent survey. The third survey was conducted for the 2019/2020 academic year, and therefore this is the fourth survey in the research.

The main socio-demographic variables investigated are sex, age and educational level (for the people studying). From an expenditure point of view, the expenditure on the different types of educational services (enrolment and teaching classes, meal plan, extracurricular activities, private classes, etc.) is investigated, as well as expenditure on various educational goods (text books, uniforms, stationery, computer products, etc.). Information is also obtained on whether the students have received any type of scholarship or aid to carry out their studies.

Type of operation:: multi-year survey.
Population scope:: group of households in which there is a student.
Geographical scope:: the whole national territory.
Reference period of the information: 2023/2024 academic year
Collection method:: sample survey.
Distribution:: the results are distributed throughout the country and in each autonomous community.

More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at the INE and Code of Best Practices.

For further information see

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