All indicators
    Knowledge & research inputs

    R&D spending

    How much of the economy is reinvested into research. The seed corn of future innovation.

    LiveWorld Bank (GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS)Updated annual

    Where Europe stands now

    Knowledge & research inputs

    R&D spending

    How much of the economy is reinvested into research. The seed corn of future innovation.

    EU
    2.26%
    US
    3.45%
    China
    2.58%
    D9+
    2.00%
    Europe trails the US by 1.5×World Bank · 2023

    EU vs US vs China vs D9+ over time

    % of GDP

    2003200620092011201320152017201920212023US3.4%China2.6%EU2.3%D9+2.0%

    The story

    Europe has reinvested roughly 2.2 percent of its economy in research for two decades. The United States spends around 3.5 percent, and China overtook the EU on research intensity in the mid-2010s and kept climbing. The EU set itself a 3 percent target in 2002; it has never been met.

    Why it matters

    R&D is the seed corn of every other indicator on this platform. A gap of one percentage point of GDP, compounded over twenty years, is the difference between owning the next technology platform and licensing it.

    Policy context

    The unmet 3 percent Barcelona target is the longest-running broken promise in European competitiveness policy. The Draghi report's answer is scale: joint funding of breakthrough innovation rather than 27 national programs subscale by design. Private R&D is where the gap concentrates; public spending is roughly comparable.

    How this number is calculated

    SourceWorld Bank · GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS
    DefinitionGross domestic expenditure on R&D as a share of GDP.
    EU aggregationEU = World Bank EU aggregate (EUU, the 27 member states)
    ComparisonEurope, the United States and China, each on the same definition and the latest available year.
    UpdatesPulled automatically from the official source and refreshed every 24 hours. No manual edits.
    CaveatThe latest available year can differ by a year between regions.
    NotesWorld Bank series for gross domestic expenditure on R&D as a share of GDP, EU as the World Bank's aggregate of the 27 member states, annual. Includes public and private R&D; the private component drives most of the transatlantic difference.

    Source & cadence

    Unit% of GDP
    EU sourceWorld Bank (GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS)
    US sourceWorld Bank
    FrequencyAnnual

    Related policy insights

    No insight references this indicator yet; new analyses appear here automatically.

    Browse insights

    More in this dimension

    Inflow of highly skilled migrantsResearchersHigher education