Serbia: Researchers in R&D (per million people)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Serbia's researchers in R&D (per million people) rose 172.23 on 2023 (from 2,515 to 2,688).

Across the 16 yearly changes before that (2008 to 2023), the average change was +82.81 and a typical year strayed about 71.92 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 237.45 in 2015 and the biggest yearly fall was 54.16 in 2017. 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 upward, about 62.21 a year. A straight line explains 75% 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.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 2,738 for 2027. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2022 to 2024 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 135.34, against 310.8 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2024, Serbia had the 4th highest value of the 18 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.

Closest to Serbia in the 2024 ranking

• Hong Kong SAR, China — 1st of 18: 5,874
• Macao SAR, China — 2nd of 18: 4,634
• Russian Federation — 4th of 18: 2,639
• Georgia — 5th of 18: 1,896
• Tunisia — 6th of 18: 1,668

What this measures

The number of researchers engaged in Research &Development (R&D), expressed as per million. Researchers are professionals who conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models techniques instrumentation, software of operational methods. 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.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 18 values

Researchers in R&D (per million people) in nearby economies

• Austria — 6,634 (2023)
• Belgium — 5,990 (2023)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 705.16 (2024)
• Bulgaria — 2,401 (2023)
• Croatia — 2,440 (2023)
• Cyprus — 1,686 (2023)
• Czechia — 4,505 (2023)
• Denmark — 8,838 (2023)
• Estonia — 4,800 (2023)
• Finland — 8,315 (2023)

More infrastructure data for Serbia

• Medium and high-tech exports (% manufactured exports) — 47.74% (2024)
• Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) — 0.94% (2024)
• Scientific and technical journal articles — 5,173 (2023)
• Railways, goods transported (million ton-km) — 2,925 (2021)
• Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) — 191 (2021)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 43,287 (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 19.33 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 3.87 million (2023)
• Rail lines (total route-km) — 3,348 (2021)
• Patent applications, nonresidents

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Serbia's researchers in R&D (per million people)?

2,688 in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2007?

It is up 125.77% from 1,190 in 2007 (4.91% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 2,688 in 2024 and the lowest 1,190 in 2007.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SP.POP.SCIE.RD.P6, 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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