These data describe how much financial resources are devoted to education, by source of funds, type of transaction and education level and programme.
The entities providing funds for education, either initially or as final payers, are classified in the three main categories of: governmental (public) sources, non-governmental (private) sources and "international agencies and other foreign sources". 
There are three types of financial transactions: Direct expenditure on educational institutions; Transfers to students or households and to other private entities; and Households' expenditure on education outside educational institutions.
Values are expressed in both local currencies and USD-equivalent - converted using PPP conversion factors - and in both current and constant prices. Figures in constant prices and constant PPP are recommended for time series analyses.

National

Both public and private institutions. The classification between public and private institution is made according to whether a public agency or a private entity has the ultimate control over the institution. For private institutions, the distinction between government-dependent and independent refers only to the degree of a private institution's dependence on funding from government sources: a government-dependent private institution receives 50% or more of its core funding from government agencies or one whose teaching personnel are paid by government agency. An independent private institution is one that receives less than 50% of its core funding from government agencies and whose teaching personnel are not paid by a government agency.

Government expenditure refers to spending of public authorities at all levels and include three subcategories: central (national) government, regional government (province, state, Land, etc.) and local government (municipality, district, commune,etc.). Expenditure that is not directly related to education (e.g. culture, sports, youth activities, etc.) is not included unless provided as ancillary services. Private expenditure include two subcategories: households (that is to say students and their families) and private entities other than households. In this last category are incuded expenditure of firms for specified educational activities. Funds from international agencies and other foreign sources include funds from international sources paid to governments or directly to educational institutions.