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Innovation, research & technology · Research

Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

% of GDP · Annual · 157 of 218 countries (72 %) · 1995–2024
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World average (population-weighted)
1.86 %
across 86 countries, 2023
Latest observation
2024
Source updated
13 Jul 2026
CountryAtlas refreshed
11 Sep 2026
Snapshot 20260911T072322Z

World map

One value per country for the selected year. Hatched = no data.

No data available

Trend

Aggregate across the countries of a group, year by year. Computed by CountryAtlas from country values — no published aggregate is used.

Not enough countries to aggregate this indicator for World.

Highest and lowest

The five leaders and the five trailing countries, 2023.

Full ranking →

Top 5

Bottom 5

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Pick up to five countries. Defaults to the three largest economies with data.

No series for the selected countries.

Definition

Definition
Unit
% of GDP (% GDP)
Frequency
Annual
Aggregation
none · Higher is better
Valid range
0 – 10

Sources & provenance

Every value on this page comes from one of these series, chosen per country by priority.

  1. Priority #1
    World BankWDIGB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZSok
    156 countries · 2,467 obs. · → 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    Gross domestic expenditures on research and development (R&D), expressed as a percent of GDP. They include both capital and current expenditures in the four main sectors: Business enterprise, Government, Higher education and Private non-profit. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development. Source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), date accessed: 2025-03-26, date published: 2025-02

    Open at source
  2. Priority #2
    OECDOECD.STI.STP,DSD_MSTI@DF_MSTI*.A.G.PT_B1GQ._Z._Zok
    47 countries · 1,579 obs. · → 2025 · CC BY 4.0

    OECD — Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI database)

    Open at source
  3. Priority #3
    Eurostatrd_e_gerdtotTOTAL.PC_GDPok
    41 countries · 1,152 obs. · → 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    Eurostat rd_e_gerdtot — GERD by sector of performance

    Open at source

Series-level selection: for each country the whole series comes from the highest-priority source that has any non-forecast value for it. If a lower-priority source is more than three years fresher, the freshest source wins instead. Non-chosen values are kept as alternatives, never discarded.

Countries without data

Typical reasons: the source does not survey small territories or micro-states; the statistical office reports with a lag of one to three years; the series is only compiled for member countries of the source organisation (OECD, EU, Eurostat); or a value exists but failed validation and is quarantined rather than shown.

Downloads & API

Every observation for this indicator, all countries and years, with provenance columns.

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API example

One country, full history. Replace CAN by any ISO3 code or slug.

bash
curl -s "https://www.countryatlas.co/api/v1/series?country=CAN&indicator=rd-expenditure-pct-gdp" | jq '.series[0] | {country: .country.name, unit, last: .stats.last, source: .provenance.source_name}'

API documentation →