Countries with the Most Researchers per Million People

This chart ranks countries by the number of researchers engaged in research and development per million people, as reported by the World Bank using UNESCO data. Researchers are professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new know...

About This Dataset

Countries with the Most Researchers per Million People
This chart ranks countries by the number of researchers engaged in research and development per million people, as reported by the World Bank using UNESCO data. Researchers are professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge, products and methods.
✨ AI Insight

South Korea leads with 9,435 researchers per million people, narrowly ahead of Denmark on 9,037 and Singapore on 8,782. The most striking feature is the dominance of small, wealthy nations: eight of the top ten are European, and the Nordic bloc alone supplies four entries through Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. This is a measure of research intensity rather than scale, which is why large research powers like the United States, China and Japan do not appear despite employing far more researchers in absolute terms. Iceland's presence at 6,864 is remarkable for a nation of under 400,000 people. The top ten spans a relatively narrow band, from 9,435 down to 5,819.

Source:  World Bank (UNESCO Institute for Statistics)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

🏆
South Korea leads with 9,435 in 2022.
📊
Average value in 2022: 7,700  ·  median: 7,734.
↔️
Gap in 2022: South Korea is 1.6× larger than Belgium.

Countries with the Most Researchers per Million People

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Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Admin
Data Points
10
10 categories  ·  1 year
Top Value
9,435
South Korea
Researchers in R&D (per million people) · 2022
Metrics
1
Researchers in R&D (per million people)
Period
2022
Single year snapshot

Category Rankings

Researchers in R&D (per million people) · 2022

# Category 2022
🥇 South Korea 9,435
🥈 Denmark 9,037
🥉 Singapore 8,782
4 Sweden 8,639
5 Finland 8,073
6 Norway 7,395
7 Iceland 6,864
8 Austria 6,632
9 Netherlands 6,319
10 Belgium 5,819
Statistical Summary — Researchers in R&D (per million people) · 2022
9,435
Maximum
5,819
Minimum
7,700
Average
7,734
Median

What This Data Shows

Auto-generated trend summaries per category

South Korea
Recorded 9,435 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Denmark
Recorded 9,037 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Singapore
Recorded 8,782 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Sweden
Recorded 8,639 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Finland
Recorded 8,073 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Norway
Recorded 7,395 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Iceland
Recorded 6,864 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Austria
Recorded 6,632 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Netherlands
Recorded 6,319 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.
Belgium
Recorded 5,819 Researchers in R&D (per million people) in 2022.

Full Data Table

10 records across 1 year

✓ 10 sourced
Category Metric 2022 Source
South Korea Researchers in R&D (per million people) 9,435
Denmark Researchers in R&D (per million people) 9,037
Singapore Researchers in R&D (per million people) 8,782
Sweden Researchers in R&D (per million people) 8,639
Finland Researchers in R&D (per million people) 8,073
Norway Researchers in R&D (per million people) 7,395
Iceland Researchers in R&D (per million people) 6,864
Austria Researchers in R&D (per million people) 6,632
Netherlands Researchers in R&D (per million people) 6,319
Belgium Researchers in R&D (per million people) 5,819

Data Sources & References

All external sources cited in this dataset

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