Introduction. Socio-economic development of the society due to the relationship between economic and educational components of national systems that define the conditions for the accumulation of intellectual potential of the country. The stable and progressive development of countries is largely determined by the state education system. Theoretical analysis. Public expenditure for education contribute to the economic growth of the country through the development of human capital. The potential benefits of education can be divided into economic and social, public and private. Empirical analysis. In the countries of the EAEU public expenditure on education significantly differentiated both in absolute and in relative indicators. The level of spending on education positively correlated with the Education index in the Member States EAEU. Results. The considerable differentiation of the absolute and relative indicators of education expenditure in the Union leads to the need to consider in evaluation of education cost effectiveness not only the share of costs in GDP and consolidation budget, along with absolute value of costs, but also other factors such as: number and percentage of students, coverage of youth by programs of secondary and higher education, the number of educational institutions of secondary and higher education, the ratio of graduates, literacy rate, etc.