BEIJING — China's total investment in education in 2019 exceeded 5 trillion yuan ($748.8 billion) for the first time, an increase of 8.74 percent over the previous year's 4.6 trillion yuan, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education.

Government spending on education totaled over 4 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.25 percent year-on-year, the ministry said, adding that the figure accounted for 4.04 percent of the country's GDP.

Government expenditure on education has remained above 4 percent of GDP for eight consecutive years since 2012, the statistics showed.