Research & Development Spending
Global spending on research and development reached about $2.87 trillion in 2024 — roughly 2% of world GDP and a record. The United States ($784 billion) and China ($723 billion) now account for over half of it, and Asia has overtaken every other region as China's share of world R&D climbed from 4% to 26% since 2000.
Key R&D Spending Insights
A Two-Power Research Race
The United States ($784 billion) and China ($723 billion) together make up over half of world R&D. China's spending has grown roughly tenfold since 2000 and is closing on the US — and in purchasing-power terms the two are already neck and neck.
Asia Is Now the R&D Centre
Asia performs about 46% of global R&D, up from 25% in 2000, with China alone at 26%. North America (28%) and Europe (21%) have both seen their shares of the world total decline as research activity shifts east.
Intensity Tells a Different Story
Measured against the size of the economy, Israel (6.3% of GDP) and South Korea (5.0%) lead the world by a wide margin — far above the US (3.5%) and China (2.6%). Intensity shows how research-driven an economy is, independent of its size.
Spending Keeps Outpacing GDP
World R&D intensity has risen steadily from 1.48% of GDP in 2000 to about 2.0% in 2024. Governments are now adding sharply to defence and energy R&D, which is expected to push the global total past $3 trillion.
Top R&D Spenders, Absolute (2023)
Gross domestic R&D expenditure, USD billion
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| Gross R&D expenditure (USD billion, 2023) | |
|---|---|
| USA | 784 |
| China | 723 |
| Japan | 184 |
| Germany | 132 |
| South Korea | 119 |
| France | 73 |
Key Finding: The US ($784B) and China ($723B) dominate, with Japan ($184B), Germany ($132B) and South Korea ($119B) far behind. The top two countries alone account for more than half of world R&D.
R&D Intensity by Country (% of GDP)
R&D spending as a share of GDP
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| R&D spending (% of GDP) | |
|---|---|
| Israel | 6.3 |
| South Korea | 5 |
| Taiwan | 4 |
| USA | 3.5 |
| Japan | 3.4 |
| Germany | 3.1 |
| China | 2.6 |
| France | 2.2 |
| UK | 2.9 |
| World | 2 |
Key Finding: Israel (6.3%) and South Korea (5.0%) invest the largest share of their economies in research — roughly double the US and triple the world average of about 2.0%.
World R&D Intensity (2000–2024)
Global R&D as a share of GDP
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| World R&D as a share of GDP (%) | |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 1.48 |
| 2005 | 1.53 |
| 2010 | 1.6 |
| 2015 | 1.71 |
| 2020 | 1.93 |
| 2023 | 1.99 |
| 2024 | 2 |
Key Finding: R&D has consistently grown faster than the world economy, lifting global intensity from 1.48% of GDP in 2000 to about 2.0% in 2024.
Global R&D by Region — 2000 vs 2023
Share of world R&D, percent
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| 2000 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | 25 | 46 |
| North America | 38 | 28 |
| Europe | 30 | 21 |
| Rest of world | 7 | 5 |
Key Finding: Asia's share has nearly doubled to about 46% while North America and Europe have declined — a structural shift in where the world's research is actually performed.
China's Share of Global R&D
Percent of world R&D
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| China's share of global R&D (%) | |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4 |
| 2005 | 8 |
| 2010 | 13 |
| 2015 | 19 |
| 2020 | 24 |
| 2023 | 26 |
Key Finding: China went from about 4% of global R&D in 2000 to roughly 26% in 2023 — the fastest sustained scale-up of a national research system in history.
Understanding R&D Spending Data
What GERD measures
The headline figure is gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD): all capital and current spending on research performed within a country, across four sectors — business enterprise, government, higher education and private non-profit. It captures where research is done, not who funds it.
Nominal versus PPP
Cross-country comparisons are often made in purchasing-power parity (PPP) terms, which raises the relative figures for countries like China and India where research labour is cheaper. The absolute dollar figures shown here are a mix of national submissions and should be read alongside the intensity (% of GDP) measure.
R&D intensity
R&D intensity is GERD as a percentage of GDP — the most widely used indicator of research effort and the target of many national strategies, such as the EU's long-standing 3%-of-GDP goal.
Caveats
R&D statistics typically lag one to two years, and methods differ between countries; some, including China, periodically revise their definitions. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics, OECD and Eurostat harmonise national sources, but the latest year often mixes firm data with estimates.