Education

Consumers spend $1.86 trillion on education in 2026, which is 2.6% of all their spending. The market grows 5.45% a year in current dollars and reaches $3.17 trillion by 2036. Between those two years it adds $1.30 trillion.

The fastest-growing subcategory is secondary education at 5.66% a year and the slowest is post-secondary non-tertiary education at 4.10%. The category as a whole grows 5.45% a year. The two largest subcategories are tertiary education at $875bn and pre-primary and primary education at $385bn. Both grow more slowly than secondary education.

Seoul spends the most at $23bn a year, followed by New York City at $21bn and Shanghai at $20bn. We estimate the category for all 9,400+ cities in every year to 2040. The top ten of the 253 cities on this page's map hold 26% of the spending it shows.

Among the largest city markets, New Delhi grows fastest at 10.4% a year and Osaka slowest at 3.1%. The cities adding the most spending by 2036 make a different list, led by Jakarta at $14bn, Beijing at $13bn and New Delhi at $11bn.

Yes, every market and city splits the category into five age bands and five spending tiers. Sizing the cohort you target means filtering those same figures, with nothing extra to commission. Rome has the oldest profile, with 21% of its spending from the over-65s. San Francisco is the most affluent, with 96% from its richest spending tier.

We forecast every country, subcategory and cohort each year to 2050, and every city to 2040. Because one model produces all of them, a market and a city read on the same scale. The method is published and peer reviewed. Our page on how we measure spending sets it out. The average person spends $228 a year on education today.