New Eurostat R&D expenditure

On 29 November 2022, Eurostat published the first estimates of R&D expenditure data relative to the year 2021.

According to the latest results, in 2021, the EU spent € 328 billion on R&D, up 6 % compared to the previous year (€ 310 billion), recovering significantly from the decline recorded in 2020. Croatia (+ 16%), Hungary (+ 15%) and Estonia (+ 15%) were the countries with the highest percentage increases in R&D expenditure compared to 2020. Ireland with – 2 % was the only Member State for which R&D expenditure declined.

This growth was spread across all the sectors of performance, with the business enterprise sector increasing by 6 %, the government sector by 8 %, and the higher education sector by 4 %. The business enterprise sector accounted for the largest share of the R&D (66 % of total R&D disbursed in 2021), followed by the higher education sector (22 %), the government sector (12 %) and the private non-profit sector (0.4%).

R&D intensity, i.e. R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, shows a decrease from 2.31% in 2020 to 2.27% in 2021. This fall could be explained by the GDP rebound in 2021 after the significant drop in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, compared with 2019 (2.23%), before the pandemic, R&D intensity increased by 0.04 percentage points (pp) in 2021.

Among the EU Member States, the highest R&D intensity in 2021 was recorded in Sweden (3.35%), followed by Austria (3.22%) and Belgium (3.19%). Six Member States reported R&D expenditure below 1% of their GDP in 2021: Romania (0.48%), Malta (0.65%), Latvia (0.71%), Bulgaria (0.81%), Cyprus (0.89%) and Slovakia (0.95%). Between 2020 and 2021, 12 Member States saw a decline in R&D intensity with particular relevance for Belgium (- 19 p.p), Ireland (- 17 p.p.) and Denmark (- 15 p.p.). R&D intensity remained the same in 4 Member States (Germany, Latvia, Austria and Slovenia); and increased for the remaining 11 Member States, in particular Portugal and Finland (both with + 7 p.p.)

For more information.