Between 2006 and 2009, real current public expenditure on education in constant 2015 prices increased from €7.3bn to €8.2bn. It then dropped to €7.8bn in 2013, before increasing again to €8.0bn in 2015. Overall, between 2006 and 2015, real current public expenditure increased by 9.4%. 

Real expenditure at primary level increased by 15.1% between 2006 and 2015 from €5,471 per student to €6,295 per student. 

At the secondary level, real expenditure per student rose by 6.8% from €7,731 in 2006 to €8,257 in 2015. 

Over the same time period, real expenditure per student at third level decreased from €10,054 in 2006 to €7,576 in 2015, a drop of 24.6%.

Primary school enrolment increased by 15.8% or 77,015 students, between 2008 and 2018, rising from 468,444 to 563,459.

Over the same time period, secondary school enrolment increased by 15.9%.

The number of full-time third level students increased by nearly a third (32%) between 2008 and 2018 while the number of part time third level students rose by 18.4%.

Public spending on education in Ireland was 3.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015, down from 4.9% in 2014.

When public spending on education is calculated as a percentage of Modified Gross National Income (GNI*), it accounted for 6.1% of GNI* in 2015.

The EU average for public expenditure on education was 5.0% of GDP in 2015. Sweden had the highest at 7.1%, while Romania had the lowest at 2.7%.

Ireland had a student to teacher ratio of 16.0 for primary level education in 2016. This was the seventh highest ratio in the EU and was above the EU average of 14.4. 

The lowest student to teacher ratio for primary education in the EU in 2016 was in Greece at 9.3, and the highest was in France at 19.4.

For secondary level, Ireland had a student to teacher ratio of 14.1 in 2016. The EU average for upper secondary was 12.0. 

In 2016, Lithuania had the lowest student to teacher ratio for upper secondary at 7.7, and the Netherlands had the highest at 17.9. For lower secondary, Slovenia had the lowest ratio at 6.1 and the Netherlands had the highest at 16.1.

Just over half (50.5%) of persons aged 25-34 in Ireland had a third-level education in 2017, above the EU average of 38.2% and the third highest in the EU overall.

In Ireland, 45.9% of men aged 25-34 had a third level education, compared to 54.8% of women. 

Ireland had the seventh lowest percentage differential between men and women with third-level education at 8.9%. Germany had the lowest gender differential (2.1%), and Slovenia had the highest (25.5%). 

Women are more likely to have a third level education than men in all EU countries. Of the additional countries outside the EU listed in Table 4.5, only Turkey had a higher percentage of men (30.1%) with a third-level education than women (29.9%).

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam takes place every three years, with the most recent in 2015, and the exam is scored on a scale of 0 to 1,000. 

The average score of 15 year-olds in Ireland on the mathematical literacy scale was 504, the ninth highest in the EU and above the OECD average score of 490. Estonia had the highest score in this category at 520. 

In reading literacy, Ireland had a score of 521 points, the second highest in the EU. Finland had the highest reading literacy score at 526. 

The average score for scientific literacy in Ireland was 503, the seventh highest in the EU and above the OECD average of 493. The three EU countries with the highest scientific literacy scores were: Estonia (534), Finland (531), and Slovenia (513).

The NEET rate measures the proportion of young  people aged 18-25 who are neither in employment nor in education and training.

The NEET rate was 13.2% in Ireland in 2017, below the EU rate of 14.3%. 

In the EU, the Netherlands had the lowest NEET rate in 2017 at 5.3%, while Italy had the highest at 25.7%. 

Thirteen EU countries, including Ireland, had higher NEET rates for men. Of these thirteen, Cyprus had the highest gender differential (2.7%).

The remaining fifteen countries had higher NEET rates for women, with Hungary having the highest gender differential (-8.9%).

Ireland had the second highest rate of STEM graduates in 2016, when the number of mathematics, science and technology graduates was 28.9 per 1,000 persons aged 20-29. 

Slovenia had the highest rate of STEM graduates at 33.3 per 1,000 persons aged 20-29, while Luxembourg had the lowest at 3.9.

Ireland had the second highest gender differential in the EU at 24.7, with 41.3 male STEM graduates per 1,000 persons aged 20-29, compared with 16.6 for females. Only Slovenia had a higher gender differential, at 24.8.

Cyprus has the lowest gender differential, at 3.1 percentage points. All countries included in the table had a higher number of male STEM graduates.