% of GDP · annual 2000–{{year}} · World Bank WDI · {{count}} countries
Research and development spending, as a percentage of GDP — a continuous annual series from 2000 to 2023. Second tab of the "Research and Development" family.
World Bank, World Development Indicators (GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS), with the same "nearest known value" catch-up as education spending. Taiwan, absent from the World Bank, is added separately from its own source (National Science and Technology Council).
Time slider. A very skewed 2023 distribution: median at 0.39% of GDP, against a maximum of 6.35% — most of the world's countries actually invest under 0.5% of their national wealth in research.
Israel and South Korea (6.35% of GDP each) are by far the two countries that invest the most in research relative to their national wealth — a long-term strategic choice in economies with no abundant natural resources, where technological innovation substitutes for a resource rent.