Research and development spending

Everything spent in the country on research, public (universities, laboratories) and private (companies), as a share of the wealth produced (GDP).

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World map: Research and development spending, 2023 — Map 2023. Source: Institut de statistique de l’UNESCO, via Our World in Data.

In 2023, 103 countries have a value. Highest: Israel (6.4 %), South Korea (4.9 %), Sweden (3.6 %). Lowest: Guatemala (0.01 %), Myanmar (Burma) (0.02 %), Syria (0.04 %). World (GDP-weighted average): 2 %. France: 2.2 % (16th of 103).

Country ranking in 2023

Rank	Country	Value
1	Israel	6.4 %
2	South Korea	4.9 %
3	Sweden its history →	3.6 %
4	United States	3.5 %
5	Japan	3.4 %
6	Belgium	3.3 %
7	Austria	3.3 %
8	Switzerland its history →	3.2 %
9	Germany its history →	3.2 %
10	Finland	3.1 %
11	Denmark	3.1 %
12	United Kingdom	2.7 %
13	Iceland	2.6 %
14	China	2.6 %
15	Netherlands its history →	2.3 %
16	France its history →	2.2 %
17	Slovenia	2.1 %
18	Australia its history →	1.9 %
19	Norway	1.9 %
20	Estonia	1.8 %
21	Czechia	1.8 %
22	Canada	1.8 %
23	Singapore	1.8 %
24	Portugal its history →	1.7 %
25	Ireland	1.6 %
26	Poland	1.6 %
27	New Zealand	1.6 %
28	United Arab Emirates	1.5 %
29	Spain its history →	1.5 %
30	Greece	1.5 %
31	Türkiye	1.4 %
32	Croatia	1.4 %
33	Hungary its history →	1.4 %
34	Italy	1.4 %
35	Brazil	1.2 %
36	Luxembourg	1.1 %
37	Lithuania	1.1 %
38	Egypt	1 %
39	Slovakia	1 %
40	Malaysia	1 %
41	Russia	0.94 %
42	Thailand	0.94 %
43	Serbia	0.88 %
44	Latvia	0.82 %
45	Kenya	0.8 %
46	Bulgaria	0.79 %
47	Rwanda	0.78 %
48	Iran	0.73 %
49	Uruguay	0.7 %
50	Cyprus	0.68 %
51	Qatar	0.68 %
52	India its history →	0.65 %
53	Malta	0.65 %
54	Namibia	0.65 %
55	South Africa	0.61 %
56	Argentina its history →	0.6 %
57	Belarus	0.57 %
58	Romania	0.52 %
59	Saudi Arabia	0.49 %
60	Uganda	0.44 %
61	Vietnam	0.41 %
62	Chile	0.39 %
63	Cuba	0.39 %
64	Congo - Brazzaville	0.38 %
65	Algeria	0.38 %
66	Oman	0.38 %
67	North Macedonia	0.37 %
68	Costa Rica	0.34 %
69	Ukraine its history →	0.32 %
70	Colombia	0.29 %
71	Indonesia	0.28 %
72	Philippines	0.28 %
73	Mexico	0.27 %
74	Georgia	0.25 %
75	Bermuda	0.23 %
76	Moldova	0.22 %
77	Albania	0.2 %
78	Bosnia & Herzegovina	0.19 %
79	Armenia	0.18 %
80	Azerbaijan	0.18 %
81	Peru	0.18 %
82	Pakistan	0.16 %
83	Panama	0.16 %
84	Mali	0.15 %
85	Kazakhstan	0.14 %
86	Paraguay	0.14 %
87	Bhutan	0.11 %
88	Sri Lanka	0.11 %
89	Uzbekistan	0.11 %
90	Burkina Faso	0.1 %
91	Kuwait	0.1 %
92	El Salvador	0.1 %
93	Lesotho	0.09 %
94	Tajikistan	0.09 %
95	Turkmenistan	0.09 %
96	Mongolia	0.08 %
97	Bolivia	0.06 %
98	Kyrgyzstan	0.05 %
99	Trinidad & Tobago	0.05 %
100	Iraq	0.04 %
101	Syria	0.04 %
102	Myanmar (Burma)	0.02 %
103	Guatemala	0.01 %

75 countries or territories have no value that year.

Continent averages

World (GDP-weighted average)	2 %
Europe (average)	1.9 %
Americas (average)	2.5 %
Asia (average)	1.9 %
Oceania (average)	1.8 %

Understanding this map

What this figure measures

This is “gross domestic expenditure on research and development”: basic and applied research and the development of new products, whether paid for by the state or by companies. In most rich countries, companies fund about two thirds. There is no comparable figure for spending on artificial intelligence, which is included here when it counts as research.

Who invests most

Israel (over 6% of GDP in 2023) and South Korea (nearly 5%) lead, ahead of Sweden, the United States and Japan (around 3.5%). France is around 2.2%, below the 3% European target set in 2000. China went from 0.9% in 2000 to 2.6% in 2023: given the size of its economy, it now spends almost as much as the United States in absolute terms.

Missing data

Many countries do not publish this figure every year. When at most ten years (twenty for education) are missing between two known values, the map joins them with a straight line (the tooltip says “estimated”); after the last value it keeps it for up to three years (“latest data”). World and continents: GDP-weighted average, shown only when available countries make up at least 60% of the zone's GDP.

Sources : Institut de statistique de l’UNESCO, via Our World in Data

In the same theme : Public finances

Taxes Total revenue Top tax rate Total Military Education Health Social protection Research Deficit / surplus Rate − growth (r − g)% of GDP per person in years of taxes held abroad interest interest / taxes borrowing rate

All maps

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Page updated on 2026-11-03.