Gross expenditure on research and development Scotland 2023

International comparisons

Estimates of R&D spend as a percentage of GDP are available for countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from the OECD’s Main Science and Technology Indicators (MISTI) database. These estimates include values for the OECD as a whole and the European Union as a whole (27 members, i.e. excluding the UK).

Figure 2: Estimated at 2.50%, Scotland’s GERD as a share of GDP ranked in the second quartile of the OECD countries in 2023, above the EU (2.13%) but below the UK (2.64%) and the OECD (2.70%).

GERD as a share of GDP, by country, 2023.

Source: Gross expenditure on research and development Scotland 2023 - tables. For Figure 2 data see Table 7A.

Note that 2023 data is not yet available for Australia, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Mexico, New Zealand and Switzerland, so data for the latest available year is used in Figure 2.

Figure 3: Estimated at 1.34%, Scotland’s BERD spend as a share of GDP ranked in the second quartile of the OECD countries in 2023, below the EU (1.41%), the UK (1.82%) and the OECD (1.99%).

BERD as a share of GDP, by country, 2023.

Source: Gross expenditure on research and development Scotland 2023 - tables. For Figure 3 data see Table 7B.

Note that 2023 data is not yet available for Australia, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, New Zealand and Switzerland, so data for the latest available year is used in Figure 3.

Figure 4: Estimated at 0.97%, Scotland’s HERD expenditure as a share of GDP ranked in the top quartile of the OECD countires in 2023, above the OECD (0.43%), EU (0.46%) and UK (0.62%).

HERD spend as a share of GDP, by country, 2023.

Source: Gross expenditure on research and development Scotland 2023 - tables. For Figure 4 data see Table 7C.

Note that 2023 data is not yet available for Australia, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, New Zealand and Switzerland, so data for the latest available year is used in Figure 4.