World Research and Development Spending as a Share of GDP by Year 2000-2023

About This Dataset

Gross domestic spending on research and development worldwide, expressed as a percentage of world GDP, for each year from 2000 to 2023. The data is the World Bank series compiled from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and covers business, government, higher education and non-profit research. Being a ratio, it moves with both research budgets and the size of the economy.

✨ AI Insight

World research intensity spent the 2000s going nowhere. It peaked early at 2.06 percent of GDP in 2001, drifted down to a low of 1.92 percent in 2007, and did not beat that 2001 figure again until 2014. From 2014 the direction changes: every year except 2017 rises, and the series ends at its maximum, 2.60 percent in 2023. The largest single jump is 2020, up 0.19 points, which is partly arithmetic, since a ratio rises when the denominator shrinks. What matters is that the step held: 2021 to 2023 added a further 0.14 points instead of giving it back. Across the full period global research intensity rose by 0.55 points, or 27 percent.

Source: World Bank / UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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2023 leads with 3 in 2000-2023.

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Average value in 2000-2023: 2 · median: 2.

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Gap in 2000-2023: 2023 is 1.4× larger than 2007.