A group of scientists discussing their equipment.

In 2023, the total government budget allocations for R&D (GBARD) across the EU stood at €123 684 million, equivalent to 0.73% of GDP. This was a 5.3% increase compared with 2022 (€117 424 million) and a 54.8% increase compared with 2013 (€79 886 million).

This information comes from data on government budget allocations for R&D (GBARD) published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.

In 2023, government budget allocations for R&D at the EU level stood at €275.6 per person, a 53.3% increase compared with 2013 (€181.0 per person). 

The highest allocations were recorded in Luxembourg (€646.6 per person), followed at a distance by Denmark (€552.4) and Germany (€529.3).

On the other hand, EU countries with the lowest R&D budget allocations per person were Romania (€21.2 per person), Bulgaria (€33.1) and Hungary (€48.1). 

Government budget allocations for R&D in 2023, € per person. Chart. See link to bull dataset below.

Source dataset: gba_nabsfin07

Between 2013 and 2023, almost all EU governments increased their budget allocations for R&D in terms of € per person. The largest percentage increases were recorded in Latvia (+291% from €16.0 per person in 2013 to €62.6 in 2023), Poland (+147% from €37.8 to €93.3) and Bulgaria (+133% from €14.2 to €33.1). Hungary was the only EU country to register a decrease (-28% from €66.9 to €48.1).

More than a third of R&D budget goes to general university funds

The biggest share of the 2023 government budget allocations for R&D, namely 35.5%, was directed to the general advancement of knowledge, primarily financed by a public block grant known as public general university funds (GUF), which many public higher education institutions receive to support all their activities. Additionally, 17.3% of the GBARD was dedicated to the general advancement of knowledge from other sources than GUF, followed by 11.0% for industrial production and technology, 6.9% for health and 6.0% for exploration and exploitation of space. 

Distribution of government budget allocations for R&D by NABS, 2023, %. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: gba_nabsfin07

For more information

Methodological note

Provisional government budget allocations for R&D are all allocations assigned to R&D in central (federal) government, regional (state) and local (municipal) government. They, therefore, refer to budget provisions, not to actual expenditure, which may differ. Local government budget funds may not be included if their contribution is not significant or if the data cannot be collected.

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