BEIJING — China's government budgetary spending on education remained above 4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018, the seventh consecutive year, according to the Ministry of Education.

Totaling nearly 3.7 trillion yuan (about $520 billion), China's government budgetary spending on education last year registered an increase of 8.15 percent year-on-year and accounted for 4.11 percent of GDP.

The ministry unveiled the figures in a statement on Oct 16, citing a statistical report on the implementation of the 2018 national budget on education jointly issued by the ministry, the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Finance.

In 2018, the average education spending allocated through the government's general budget for a student in kindergarten registered an increase of 10.36 percent year-on-year.

In comparison, the same rates for a student in primary school, junior middle school, high school, secondary vocational school, and higher education institutions were 3.82 percent, 4.79 percent, 8.64 percent, 7.90 percent, and 3.61 percent respectively.