ODA Spending

How much ODA does Japan allocate to education?

Japan was the 4^th largest DAC donor to education in 2022.

In relative terms, Japan ranked 25^th out of all OECD DAC member countries in 2022, allocating just 3% of its total ODA to education. This is below the DAC average of 7%.

How is Japanese educational ODA changing?

Japan’s education funding saw a 22% decrease in 2020 and a further 3% decrease in 2021. However, funding increased by 24% in 2022.

Some countries, including Japan, report the costs of scholarships and other costs of hosting students from LICs as bilateral ODA. Although reportable as ODA, they do not constitute transnational financial flows. These costs accounted for 20% of Japan’s total education ODA in 2022. Excluding these costs, Japan ranked 4^th among OECD donor countries in absolute terms.

How does Japan allocate educational ODA?

Bilateral Spending 

Japan channels a large share of its education ODA bilaterally. Overall, bilateral funding accounted for 87% of Japan’s ODA for education, above the DAC average of 74%.

48% or US$346 million of Japan’s bilateral education ODA in 2022 was allocated to programs in higher education. 24% of funding, or US$171 million, went to primary education, 11% or US$89 million, to education facilities and training, and 10%, or US$72 million to education policy and administrative management.

Multilateral Spending and Commitments 

Core funding to multilaterals accounted for 13% of Japan’s education ODA in 2022, decreasing from 18% in 2021. This does not include earmarked funding through multilaterals.

The table below summarizes Japan’s more recent commitments to multilaterals working on education. Some of these commitments are considered core funding to multilaterals, while others are earmarked funding through multilaterals.

Funding and Policy Outlook 

What is the current government's outlook on educational ODA?

Japan considers education a prerequisite for growth and poverty reduction: Japan includes education in its Development Cooperation Charter, noting it as a prerequisite for quality growth and poverty eradication. JICA set up four clusters in its Global Agenda for Education in 2021 as a framework to develop cooperation projects. These include:

• Improving learning through the development of textbooks and learning materials;
• Educational improvement through community-wide collaboration;
• Improving education for leaving no one behind; and
• Strengthening leading universities.

At UNGA77 in 2022, former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasized Japan’s commitment to global human resource development and capacity-building. Kishida pledged to advance international cooperation in education as an 'education champion,' drawing on the outcomes of the UN Transforming Education Summit and underscoring his belief that education serves as the foundation of peace.

Key bodies