Relative to GDP, R&D expenditure remains much higher in global rivals South Korea, the US, China and Japan, Eurostat says
Gross R&D expenditure relative to GDP from 2014 to 2024. Source: Eurostat and OECD database
The European Union spent €403.1 billion on R&D in 2024, up 3.6% on the previous year, according to new data from Eurostat. However, R&D spending as a percentage of GDP continues to stagnate at 2.24%, well short of a long-standing target of 3%.
Only six EU countries meet or exceed this goal: Sweden (3.6%), Belgium (3.4%), Austria (3.3%), Finland (3.2%), Germany (3.1%) and Denmark (3.0%). At the other end of the range, seven countries stand below 1%, most of them post-2004 member states: Romania (0.46%), Malta (0.51%), Cyprus (0.65%), Bulgaria (0.77%), Latvia (0.92%), Slovakia (0.98%) and Luxembourg (0.99%).
R&D spending in the EU, and the rate of increase, also continues to lag behind that of its global rivals. Between 2014 and 2023,…
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