Police fired tear gas being deployed amid protests in Paris, with footage captured by Reuters showing one demonstrator kicking a canister as people disperse in the chaos.

L'Union Etudiante, a student body helping organise the protests, says 450,000 protesters have taken to the streets throughout France today, which it says is "absolutely historic".

We reported earlier that an estimated 86,000 protesters were demonstrating in areas outside the Paris region, according to France's interior ministry, which has been providing separate figures.

The students are complaining about lack of investment in education, but how does France compare to other developed countries in the money it spends on schools and universities?

According to the European Union, France’s spending on education relative to GDP is the fifth highest in the EU27, behind Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Denmark.

The absolute amount it spends per student in education is just below the EU average.

According to the OECD, France spends close to the OECD average per student – but with strong differences depending on the age group.

It spends below the average for primary and lower secondary education. But it spends 24% more than the average for upper secondary – i.e. lycées.

(Source: BBC)