Countries That Spend the Most on Research and Development 2021

About This Dataset

Countries ranked by R&D spending (% of GDP) in 2021, using World Bank figures for the 88 countries that reported that year. Israel leads on 5.76, ahead of South Korea (4.60) and United States (3.47). Gross domestic spending on research and development as a share of GDP, counting business, government and university research. Countries report in different years and the newest figure is often two or three years old.

Analysis

Israel (5.76), South Korea (4.60) and United States (3.47) take the top three. Across the twenty shown, values run from 5.76 down to 1.89, a spread of 3.87. Israel is 1.25 times South Korea, the country in second place. 11 of the 20 reach half the leading figure, 2.88 or more. Israel stood at 5.83 in 2020, so its figure fell by 0.07 over the year. Israel also came first in 2020. Of the 19 in this table that also reported in 2020, 7 recorded a higher figure than the year before and 11 a lower one. The largest single move was Norway, from 2.24 to 1.89. The chart shows the twenty highest of 88 reporting countries, so it describes the top of the distribution rather than the world average.

Source: World Bank

Key Findings

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Israel leads in R&D Spending (% of GDP) with 5.76 in 2021.

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Average R&D Spending (% of GDP) in 2021: 3 · median: 3.

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Gap in 2021: Israel is 3× larger than Norway.