New research reveals the cost of international education in Europe in 2023

International Schools Database has compared the cost of international schools in 2023.

The key findings of the research are the following:

• Budapest sets the average in prices in Europe for international schools: 14th out of 31 cities.
• Eastern Europe’s reputation as a cheaper part of the continent does not hold up when it comes to international school fees. 6 of the 8 Eastern European cities in the research have median prices of over $10,000 per year.
• Some major European capital cities are lower in the price rankings than you may expect. Rome, Berlin, Madrid, and Amsterdam all feature in the lower half of the price scale.
• Switzerland continues to be significantly more expensive than the rest of Europe for international schooling. Median prices in Swiss cities are a minimum of 16% higher than any other European city included in the research.

In 2022, the International Schools Database saw an Eastern European city – Latvia’s capital, Riga – enter the top 10 most expensive cities for international schooling for the first time. This reveals something most people may not realise – that Eastern Europe is not all that cheap when it comes to international school fees.

Of the 8 Eastern European cities included in the research in 2023, 6 of them fall within the top 20 most expensive. They are Riga, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw. Only Vilnius and Sofia are positioned in the bottom 10. To put this in context, the median price in Riga stands at $18,165 per year, while in Sofia it is significantly less at $7,560 per year.

On the other side of the coin, some very well-known European capitals are much further down in the rankings than you may expect. Rome in Italy, Berlin in Germany, Madrid in Spain, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands are all in the bottom half of our rankings with median prices of $11,508, $11,225, $9,409 and $6,429 per year respectively. Of these cities, Rome is the highest ranked 16th of 31 cities.

Since the research began Switzerland has always been the most expensive country in Europe for international schooling, and it has also been among the most expensive in the world. Nothing has changed in 2023. The top 3 most expensive cities in Europe are all located in Switzerland – Zurich – Zug (median price $30,701), Lausanne – Vaud (median price $17,271) and Geneva (median price $26,553).

What is becoming more clear, however, is just how significant the difference is between prices in Switzerland and the rest of Europe. For example, London is the most expensive non-Swiss city in the list with a median price of $22,725 per year. That means there is a minimum of 16% difference between London and the Swiss cities when median prices are compared. As we go further down the list of cities, this difference becomes bigger and bigger.

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