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Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

For 2024, Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) is led by Canada at 1.79%. This page combines ranking, historical trend, and map-based distribution.

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.

Countries ranked 30
Snapshot year 2024
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0.00.40.91.31.8CanadaCanada: 1.79%1.8Hong Kong SAR, ChinaHong Kong SAR, China: 1.13%1.1Egypt, Arab Rep.Egypt, Arab Rep.: 1.02%1.0SerbiaSerbia: 0.94%0.9Russian FederationRussian Federation: 0.94%0.9KenyaKenya: 0.81%0.8Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia: 0.64%0.6BelarusBelarus: 0.59%0.6AlgeriaAlgeria: 0.44%0.4CubaCuba: 0.44%0.4OmanOman: 0.39%0.4North MacedoniaNorth Macedonia: 0.37%0.4
Rank Country Value
1 Canada 1.79%
2 Hong Kong SAR, China 1.13%
3 Egypt, Arab Rep. 1.02%
4 Serbia 0.94%
5 Russian Federation 0.94%
6 Kenya 0.81%
7 Saudi Arabia 0.64%
8 Belarus 0.59%
9 Algeria 0.44%
10 Cuba 0.44%
11 Oman 0.39%
12 North Macedonia 0.37%
13 Ukraine 0.37%
14 Macao SAR, China 0.31%
15 Armenia 0.29%
16 Georgia 0.26%
17 Mauritius 0.26%
18 Mexico 0.25%
19 Togo 0.22%
20 Moldova 0.22%
21 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.21%
22 Azerbaijan 0.21%
23 Panama 0.20%
24 Bahrain 0.19%
25 Kazakhstan 0.16%
26 Burkina Faso 0.10%
27 Uzbekistan 0.10%
28 Bhutan 0.10%
29 Kuwait 0.09%
30 Kyrgyz Republic 0.05%
Some World Bank indicators are published with a lag. The site always shows the latest actually available year for each country and indicator.

Analytical takeaways

  • Canada sits at the top of the Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) distribution in 2024 at 1.79%, with a lead of 0.66% over the next country.
  • The median country in the current global snapshot is Armenia at 0.29%, which helps frame the center of the distribution rather than only the leaders.
  • At the lower end of the current sample sits Kyrgyz Republic (0.05%), and the page currently covers 30 countries.

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