World: Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, World's research and development expenditure (% of GDP) rose 0.03 percentage points on 2022 (from 2.57% to 2.6%).

Across the 26 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2022), the average change was +0.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.05 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 0.19 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.05 percentage points in 2004. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.06 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 93% 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.

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

Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 1.02% (2024)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 0.73% (2021)
• Iraq — 0.04% (2021)
• Israel — 6.35% (2023)
• Kuwait — 0.09% (2024)
• Malta — 0.65% (2023)
• Oman — 0.39% (2024)
• Pakistan — 0.16% (2023)
• Saudi Arabia — 0.64% (2024)
• Tunisia — 0.75% (2019)

More infrastructure data for World

• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 9.9 (2025)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 815 million (2025)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 34.76 million (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 4.27 billion (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 213,782 (2023)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 9.17 billion (2025)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 111.5 (2025)
• Patent applications, nonresidents — 1.02 million (2024)
• Patent applications, residents — 2.7 million (2024)
• ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP)

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Questions people ask

What is World's research and development expenditure (% of GDP)?

2.6% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 0.63 percentage points from 1.96% in 1996. The highest value was 2.6% in 2023 and the lowest 1.92% in 2007.

Is the latest change in research and development expenditure (% of GDP) unusual for World?

In 2023, World's research and development expenditure (% of GDP) rose 0.03 percentage points on 2022 (from 2.57% to 2.6%). Across the 26 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2022), the average change was +0.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.05 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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