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

About This Dataset

South Korean gross domestic spending on research and development as a percentage of GDP, by year, from 2000 to 2023. The figures are the World Bank series drawn from UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, covering business, government, higher education and non-profit research carried out in Korea.

✨ AI Insight

South Korea started this series level with the world average, at 2.05 percent of GDP in 2000, and ends it at 4.94 percent - more than double, and well clear of the United States, China and the global figure. Only two years interrupt the climb, 2002 and 2015, and both give back less than 0.1 points. Korea passed the United States in 2006, 2.62 percent against 2.55, and has not trailed it in any year since; by 2023 the gap is 1.5 points. The rise is broad rather than the result of one policy year: eleven separate years add at least 0.15 points, and the biggest is 2017 at 0.28.

Source: World Bank / UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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2023 leads with 5 in 2000-2023.

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Average value in 2000-2023: 3 · median: 4.

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Gap in 2000-2023: 2023 is 2.4× larger than 2000.