North Macedonia's research and development expenditure (% of GDP) was 0.37% in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 0.14 percentage points from 0.52% in 2014.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 0.37% | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 0.37% | 2019 |
| Ten years earlier | 0.52% | 2014 |
| Highest | 0.52% | 2014 |
| Lowest | 0.17% | 2007 |
| Average since 2015 | 0.38% | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 0.36% | 1997 |
What the numbers say
In 2024, North Macedonia's research and development expenditure (% of GDP) rose 0 percentage points on 2023 (from 0.37% to 0.37%).
Across the 26 yearly changes before that (1998 to 2023), the average change was +0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.06 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.11 percentage points in 2013 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.13 percentage points in 2001. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.00587 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 33% of the movement over 10 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2024, North Macedonia had the 10th highest value of the 25 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| North Macedonia | 0.37% | 2024 |
| World | 2.6% | 2023 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 2.14% | 2023 |
| Upper middle income | 2.01% | 2023 |
Closest to North Macedonia in the 2024 ranking
What this measures
Gross domestic expenditures on research and development (R&D), expressed as a percent of GDP. They include both capital and current expenditures in the four main sectors: Business enterprise, Government, Higher education and Private non-profit. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development.
Limitations: Estimates of the resources allocated to R&D are affected by national characteristics such as the periodicity and coverage of national R&D surveys across institutional sectors and industries; and the use of different sampling and estimation methods. R&D typically involves a few large performers, hence R&D surveys use various techniques to maintain up-to-date registers of known performers, while attempting to identify new or occasional performers. R&D totals from SNA accounts may differ from these estimates, due in part to the different treatments of software R&D in the totals.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 28 values
| Year | Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0.3736 |
| 2023 | 0.3699 |
| 2022 | 0.3737 |
| 2021 | 0.3725 |
| 2020 | 0.3726 |
| 2019 | 0.3678 |
| 2018 | 0.3637 |
| 2017 | 0.3544 |
| 2016 | 0.4359 |
| 2015 | 0.4441 |
| 2014 |
Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) in nearby economies
- Armenia — 0.29% (2024)
- Austria — 3.26% (2023)
- Azerbaijan — 0.21% (2024)
- Belarus — 0.59% (2024)
- Belgium — 3.27% (2023)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina — 0.21% (2024)
- Bulgaria — 0.79% (2023)
- Croatia — 1.39% (2023)
- Cyprus — 0.68% (2023)
- Czechia
More infrastructure data for North Macedonia
- Mobile cellular subscriptions — 1.98 million (2024)
- Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 108.39 (2024)
- Fixed telephone subscriptions — 456,183 (2024)
- Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 25.02 (2024)
- Medium and high-tech exports (% manufactured exports) — 63.97% (2024)
- Individuals using the Internet (% of population) — 93.1% (2025)
- ICT service exports (BoP, current US$) — US$764.41 million (2025)
- ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 21.52% (2025)
- Scientific and technical journal articles
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is North Macedonia's research and development expenditure (% of GDP)?
- 0.37% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1997?
- It is up 0.01 percentage points from 0.36% in 1997. The highest value was 0.52% in 2014 and the lowest 0.17% in 2007.
- How does North Macedonia rank?
- 10th highest of 25 economies with data for 2024.
- Is the latest change in research and development expenditure (% of GDP) unusual for North Macedonia?
- In 2024, North Macedonia's research and development expenditure (% of GDP) rose 0 percentage points on 2023 (from 0.37% to 0.37%). Across the 26 yearly changes before that (1998 to 2023), the average change was +0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.06 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), date accessed: 2025-03-26, date published: 2025-02 Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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