Education under FHC

2nd term (1999–2002)

Public education spending was 3.8% of GDP in 1999 and 3.8% in 2002, and research and development spending 1.0% of GDP in 2000. The government created federal student financing (Fies), the 2001–2010 national education plan and the federal grant conditional on school attendance.

This visualization is descriptive and does not show that a government caused the change. See the methodology.

What started

National Education Plan 2001–2010

2001-01-09 · Lei 10.172/2001 · Not yet checked against the official record

First ten-year plan with goals by level and modality. Its financing provisions were vetoed (see cuts).
- Afterwards, 2014: Replaced · Lei 13.005/2014 — Succeeded in 2014 by a new ten-year plan.
Source: www.planalto.gov.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Government expenditure on education (% of GDP): 3.8 %
- Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 1.1 %
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 5.4 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): no data %
Federal Bolsa Escola

2001-04-11 · Lei 10.219/2001 · Not yet checked against the official record

Cash transfer to poor families conditional on school attendance of primary-age children, run by municipalities.
- Afterwards, 2004: Replaced · Lei 10.836/2004 — Merged in 2004 into Bolsa Família, with a school attendance condition.
Source: www.planalto.gov.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Government expenditure on education (% of GDP): 3.8 %
- Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 1.1 %
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 5.4 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): no data %
Student Financing Fund (Fies)

2001-07-12 · Lei 10.260/2001 · Not yet checked against the official record · Record on the education page

Replaces the previous student credit and finances undergraduate courses at positively assessed private institutions; originated in a 1999 provisional measure.
- Afterwards, 2017: Amended · Lei 13.530/2017 — Reformed in 2017, with new financing modalities.
Source: www.planalto.gov.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Government expenditure on education (% of GDP): 3.8 %
- Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 1.1 %
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 5.4 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): no data %

Cuts, withholdings and limits

Delinking of Union revenue (DRU)

2000 · Earmark · Emenda Constitucional 27/2000 · Not yet checked against the official record

The Union revenue delinking succeeded the fiscal stabilization fund and kept part of federal revenue outside earmarks; its effect on the federal education minimum is the subject of divergent studies.

Source: www.planalto.gov.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Government expenditure on education (% of GDP): 3.9 %
- Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 1.0 %
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 5.3 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): 86.4 %
Vetoes of the PNE financing and expansion goals

2001 · Veto · Veto 2/2001 · Not yet checked against the official record

The president partially vetoed the national plan law, hitting financing goals at all levels (the GDP-share goal was the main item) and, especially, higher education expansion goals. Congress upheld the veto.

Source: www.congressonacional.leg.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Government expenditure on education (% of GDP): 3.8 %
- Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 1.1 %
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 5.4 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): no data %

Change in the series over the period

From the year before the start to the last year of the period, with an optional lag. Compare with Latin America and neighbors: if all moved together, the change is probably not a government's doing.

Absolute change in the series unit (p.p. = percentage points); relative change, in %, only where shown.

no lag

Indicator	Window	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico	Latin America & Caribbean
Government expenditure on education (% of GDP) %	1998–2002	−1.0 p.p.	−0.0 p.p.	+0.7 p.p.	+0.3 p.p.	+1.1 p.p.	+0.6 p.p.
Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) %	1998–2002	no data	−0.0 p.p.	no data	no data	+0.1 p.p.	no data
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years	1998–2002	+0.7 yrs	+0.7 yrs	+0.4 yrs	+0.2 yrs	+0.5 yrs	no data
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) %	1998–2002	no data	no data	no data	no data	no data	+1.1 p.p.

1-year lag

Indicator	Window	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico	Latin America & Caribbean
Government expenditure on education (% of GDP) %	1999–2003	no data	−1.0 p.p.	+0.2 p.p.	−0.1 p.p.	+1.5 p.p.	−0.2 p.p.
Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) %	1999–2003	no data	−0.0 p.p.	no data	no data	+0.0 p.p.	no data
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years	1999–2003	+0.7 yrs	+1.2 yrs	+0.5 yrs	+0.2 yrs	+0.5 yrs	no data
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) %	1999–2003	no data	no data	no data	no data	no data	+1.5 p.p.

2-year lag

Indicator	Window	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico	Latin America & Caribbean
Government expenditure on education (% of GDP) %	2000–2004	+0.0 p.p.	−1.1 p.p.	−0.2 p.p.	+0.6 p.p.	+0.7 p.p.	−0.0 p.p.
Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) %	2000–2004	−0.1 p.p.	−0.0 p.p.	no data	+0.0 p.p.	+0.1 p.p.	−0.0 p.p.
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years	2000–2004	+0.7 yrs	+1.2 yrs	+0.6 yrs	+0.2 yrs	+0.6 yrs	no data
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) %	2000–2004	+2.3 p.p.	no data	no data	no data	+0.4 p.p.	+1.5 p.p.

Pace before and during the government

Yearly change in this window, against the same length immediately before. Talk of a change in pace only when the series moved differently before; even then it does not say why. If Latin America changed pace together, the cause is probably not the government.

Indicator	Before	During	Latin America & Caribbean: before → during
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) per year	+0.17 yrs (1994–1998)	+0.17 yrs (1998–2002)	no data

Government expenditure on education (% of GDP)

Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Mexico

%. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: Brazil: 1995–2022 (25 years); Argentina: 1975–2023 (41 years); Chile: 1975–2022 (35 years); Colombia: 1979–2020 (29 years); Mexico: 1989–2022 (30 years).

Government expenditure on education (% of GDP): Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version: 2026-10-08 · Collected on: 2026-11-01 · License: CC-BY-4.0
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts

View the data as a table

Year	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico
1975	–	1.8	3.5	–	–
1976	–	1.2	–	–	–
1977	–	1.7	–	–	–
1978	–	1.9	3.0	–	–
1979	–	2.4	3.4	1.8	–
1980	–	2.6	4.1	1.7	–
1981	–	–	4.8	2.6	–
1982	–	1.6	–	–	–
1983	–	1.6	–	–	–
1984	–	2.6	–	3.0	–
1985	–	1.4	–	2.7	–
1986	–	1.3	–	–	–
1987	–	1.3	2.8	–	–
1989	–	1.0	–	2.7	2.3
1990	–	1.1	2.2	–	2.3
1991	–	–	–	–	2.5
1992	–	–	–	–	3.0
1993	–	–	2.4	–	–
1994	–	–	2.5	–	3.5
1995	4.6	–	2.6	–	3.5
1996	–	3.7	2.8	–	–
1997	–	–	3.0	–	–
1998	4.8	4.0	3.3	3.9	3.2
1999	3.8	4.5	3.7	4.4	3.4
2000	3.9	4.6	3.8	3.5	3.8
2001	3.8	4.8	–	3.7	4.0
2002	3.8	4.0	4.0	4.3	4.2
2003	–	3.5	3.9	4.3	4.8
2004	4.0	3.5	3.5	4.1	4.5
2005	4.5	3.9	3.3	4.0	4.6
2006	4.9	4.1	3.0	3.9	4.5
2007	5.0	4.5	3.2	4.1	4.5
2008	5.3	4.8	3.8	3.9	4.6
2009	5.5	5.5	4.3	4.8	4.9
2010	5.6	5.0	4.2	4.8	4.9
2011	5.7	5.3	4.1	4.5	4.9
2012	5.9	5.3	–	4.4	4.9
2013	5.8	5.4	4.5	4.9	4.5
2014	5.9	5.4	4.8	4.6	5.1
2015	6.2	5.8	4.9	4.5	5.1
2016	6.3	5.5	5.4	4.5	4.8
2017	6.3	5.5	5.4	4.5	4.4
2018	6.1	4.9	5.5	4.4	4.1
2019	6.0	4.8	5.6	4.5	–
2020	5.8	5.3	5.6	5.3	4.5
2021	5.5	4.7	5.0	–	4.2
2022	5.6	4.8	4.9	–	4.1
2023	–	5.0	–	–	–

† series break

Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Mexico

%. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: Brazil: 2000–2023; Argentina: 1996–2023; Chile: 2007–2022; Colombia: 2000–2020; Mexico: 1996–2024.

Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version: 2026-10-08 · Collected on: 2026-11-01 · License: CC-BY-4.0
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts

View the data as a table

Year	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico
1996	–	0.4	–	–	0.2
1997	–	0.4	–	–	0.3
1998	–	0.4	–	–	0.3
1999	–	0.5	–	–	0.3
2000	1.0	0.4	–	0.1	0.3
2001	1.1	0.4	–	0.1	0.3
2002	1.0	0.4	–	0.2	0.3
2003	1.0	0.4	–	0.2	0.4
2004	1.0	0.4	–	0.2	0.4
2005	1.0	0.4	–	0.2	0.4
2006	1.0	0.5	–	0.2	0.4
2007	1.1	0.5	0.3	0.2	0.4
2008	1.1	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.4
2009	1.1	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.5
2010	1.2	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.5
2011	1.1	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.5
2012	1.1	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.4
2013	1.2	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.4
2014	1.3	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.4
2015	1.3	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.4
2016	1.2	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.4
2017	1.1	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.3
2018	1.2	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3
2019	1.2	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.3
2020	1.2	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.3
2021	1.1	0.5	0.4	–	0.3
2022	1.2	0.5	0.4	–	0.3
2023	1.2	0.6	–	–	0.3
2024	–	–	–	–	0.3

† series break

Mean years of schooling (UNDP)

Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Mexico

years. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: all series: 1990–2023.

Mean years of schooling (UNDP): Source: UNDP — Human Development Report · Source version: HDR 2025 · Collected on: 2026-10-26 · License: CC-BY-3.0-IGO
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts

View the data as a table

Year	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico
1990	3.7	8.1	8.4	6.3	5.9
1991	3.8	8.2	8.5	6.4	6.0
1992	4.0	8.3	8.5	6.4	6.1
1993	4.1	8.3	8.6	6.5	6.2
1994	4.3	8.4	8.7	6.6	6.2
1995	4.4	8.5	8.8	6.6	6.3
1996	4.6	8.5	8.9	6.7	6.4
1997	4.8	8.6	8.9	6.7	6.4
1998	4.9	8.7	9.0	6.8	6.5
1999	5.1	8.7	9.1	6.8	6.6
2000	5.3	8.8	9.1	6.9	6.7
2001	5.4	8.9	9.3	6.9	6.8
2002	5.6	9.4	9.4	7.0	7.0
2003	5.8	9.9	9.6	7.0	7.1
2004	6.0	10.0	9.7	7.1	7.3
2005	6.2	10.1	9.7	7.3	7.5
2006	6.3	10.2	9.8	6.8	7.9
2007	6.5	10.3	9.8	7.2	7.9
2008	6.7	10.4	10.1	7.3	7.9
2009	6.8	10.5	10.0	7.3	8.1
2010	6.9	10.6	9.9	7.4	8.0
2011	7.0	10.7	9.5	7.5	8.3
2012	7.2	10.8	9.8	7.6	8.5
2013	7.3	10.9	10.0	7.8	8.4
2014	7.4	10.9	10.1	8.0	8.4
2015	7.5	10.9	10.3	8.1	8.6
2016	7.7	10.9	10.4	8.2	8.6
2017	7.8	11.0	10.6	8.4	8.7
2018	8.0	11.1	10.8	8.5	8.9
2019	8.1	11.1	10.9	8.6	9.1
2020	8.3	11.1	11.1	8.9	9.2
2021	8.4	11.2	11.3	9.0	9.3
2022	8.4	11.2	11.3	9.0	9.3
2023	8.4	11.2	11.3	9.0	9.3

† series break

Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)

Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Mexico

%. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: Brazil: 1980–2024 (22 years); Argentina: 1980–2020 (4 years); Chile: 1982–2017 (7 years); Colombia: 1993–2024 (21 years); Mexico: 1980–2024 (25 years).

Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version: 2026-10-08 · Collected on: 2026-11-01 · License: CC-BY-4.0
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts

View the data as a table

Year	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico
1980	74.6	93.9	–	–	83.0
1982	–	–	91.1	–	–
1990	–	–	–	–	87.6
1991	–	96.0	–	–	–
1992	–	–	94.3	–	–
1993	–	–	–	91.1	–
1996	–	–	–	91.2	–
2000	86.4	–	–	–	90.5
2001	–	97.2	–	–	–
2002	–	–	95.7	–	90.3
2004	88.6	–	–	92.8	90.9
2005	–	–	–	92.8	91.6
2006	89.6	–	–	92.3	91.7
2007	90.0	–	–	92.7	92.8
2008	90.0	–	–	93.4	92.9
2009	90.3	–	–	93.2	93.4
2010	90.4	–	–	93.4	93.1
2011	91.4	–	96.7	93.6	93.5
2012	91.3	–	–	–	94.2
2013	91.5	–	96.3	–	94.0
2014	91.7	–	–	94.2	94.6
2015	92.1	–	96.9	94.3	94.5
2016	92.8	–	–	94.7	94.9
2017	93.1	–	96.4	94.9	95.0
2018	93.2	–	–	95.1	95.4
2019	93.9	–	–	95.3	95.4
2020	94.7	99.1	–	95.6	95.3
2021	94.8	–	–	95.7	95.7
2022	94.4	–	–	95.3	95.1
2023	94.6	–	–	95.5	95.8
2024	94.7	–	–	95.3	95.6

† series break

How to assess a government and its policies critically

Other factors that moved the same series

Currency crises and IMF agreements (1998–2002) and the Fiscal Responsibility Law limited public spending. The World Bank series has gaps and methodology changes, and education spending includes states and municipalities, which account for most of it.

Limitations

The items on this page were written from research in secondary sources, without access to the official texts in the development environment; each item shows whether it was checked against the official record.
Mean years of schooling and adult literacy move slowly by construction and reflect decades of enrollment; a change within one term does not measure that term's policies. Enrollment series by level only start in 2007 or 2012, and the catalog has no learning series or federal spending in reais.

Sources

#	Number	Origin
1	3.8	wdi.se_xpd_totl_gd_zs BRA 1999 · World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version 2026-10-08 · Collected on 2026-11-01
2	3.8	wdi.se_xpd_totl_gd_zs BRA 2002 · World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version 2026-10-08 · Collected on 2026-11-01
3	1.0	wdi.gb_xpd_rsdv_gd_zs BRA 2000 · World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version 2026-10-08 · Collected on 2026-11-01

Education under FHC

What started

National Education Plan 2001–2010

Federal Bolsa Escola

Student Financing Fund (Fies)

Cuts, withholdings and limits

Delinking of Union revenue (DRU)

Vetoes of the PNE financing and expansion goals

Change in the series over the period

no lag

1-year lag

2-year lag

Pace before and during the government

Government expenditure on education (% of GDP)

Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

Mean years of schooling (UNDP)

Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)

Other factors that moved the same series

Limitations

Sources