The league tables published by the European Union statistics office also show that, as a proportion of gross domestic product, Britain outspends Germany on education - the figures pre-dating the current government's investment in schools.

The statistics, based on data from 1995, reveal Scandinavian countries to be the biggest spenders of public money on education, with Greece spending the least.

This league table of education spending places Denmark, Sweden and Holland in the first three places.

While there is a wide gap between the Danish spending of 8% and Greece's trailing 2.9%, the survey notes a majority of countries spending between 5-6%.

In this middle group come France, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Britain, Ireland and Holland. Meanwhile in the lower band, spending less than 5% of GDP come Germany, Spain, Italy and Luxembourg.

British students are doing better than average in terms of government spending, with Britain making fourth place in the European league of financial aid for students, expressed as a proportion of total education spending.

Denmark also leads the league table for financial aid for students, again followed by Sweden in second and Greece spending least.

In a figure calculated to show spending per student, weighted to take into account price differences, Britain spent below the European average on both primary and secondary schools, but above average for higher education.

In these per pupil spending figures, both France and Germany put more money into schools, but Scandinavian countries again lead the league.

Public spending on education as percentage of GDP:
Denmark 8.0
Sweden 7.8
Finland 7.3
France 6.0
Portugal 5.8
Belgium 5.7
Austria 5.6
Britain 5.2
Ireland 5.2
Holland 5.2
Spain 4.9
Germany 4.8
Italy 4.7
Luxembourg 4.4
Greece 2.9