In the report, Education at a Glance 2005, the OECD says the UK's pre-primary spending was 'remarkable', but some early education experts dispute the figures.
The report puts current spending on three- and four-year-olds in the UK at $8,452 (4,689) per child - almost twice the OECD average of $4,294 (2,382).
The study compares pre-primary expenditure in 30 OECD countries (see box).
The United States is ranked second with an expenditure of $7,881 (4,372) per child.
But many European countries, including the Scandinavians, are ranked far below the UK. The report claims Italy and Denmark spend $3,000 (1,664) less per child than the UK, while Sweden spends less than the OECD average - just $4,107 (2,278) per child.
Professor Peter Moss of the Thomas Coram Research Unit at London University's Institute of Education said, 'The OECD figures for the UK are difficult to understand and seem inconsistent with the level of the UK Government's early education grant.
'Moreover, they suggest that the UK spends nearly twice as much as countries like Denmark and Sweden, even though these countries are known to have much higher levels of overall expenditure on early childhood services as a proportion of GDP.
'Unfortunately, there is little transparency about how OECD arrives at these figures; it is not clearly explained in the report. Until they have been further investigated, it would be best to treat them with extreme caution and draw no conclusions.'
Education at a Glance also provides data on primary, secondary and tertiary education. Bill Rammell, minister for lifelong learning, further and higher education, said, 'The report confirms that the overall UK edu-cation picture is a positive one.
'Under current plans the proportion of GDP spent on education is expected to rise from 5.4 per cent in 2004 to 2005 to 5.6 per cent in 2007 to 2008.
In 1996 to 1997 only 4.7 per cent of GDP was spent on education.'
The report can be downloaded from www.oecd.org.