Countries by Research and Development Spending as % of GDP 2024
About This Dataset
Countries by Research and Development Spending as % of GDP 2024
Countries ranked by total gross expenditure on research and development as a percentage of GDP in 2024, according to OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators. Israel leads global R&D intensity with over 5% of GDP directed toward research and development — a consequence of a technology-driven economy, a culture of military-sourced innovation, mandatory national service that channels talent into technical roles, and a venture capital ecosystem that funds breakthrough research from academic institutions into commercial products.
Analysis
The top three in R&D Spending as % of GDP in 2024 are Israel (5.60), South Korea (4.90) and Taiwan (3.60). The 8 entries in R&D Spending as % of GDP cover a range of 2.70, from 5.60 down to 2.90. First and second are separated by 0.70, so the leader sits inside the field rather than apart from it. The other 6 are bunched between 2.90 and 3.60 R&D Spending as % of GDP.
Source:
Wikipedia
Key Findings
🏆
Israel leads in R&D Spending as % of GDP with 5.60 in 2024.
📊
Average R&D Spending as % of GDP in 2024: 4 · median: 3.
↔️
Gap in 2024: Israel is 1.9× larger than Denmark.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Wikipedia
- Coverage
- 8 entities · 2024 · 8 observations
- Measure
- R&D Spending as % of GDP
- Last updated
- 16 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2024.
An article using this data
South Korea Has More Researchers per Person Than Any Major Economy
In 2000 South Korea had fewer than half as many researchers per million people as Japan. By 2022 it had almost twice as many, and it leads the world.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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