On 6 December 2022, Eurostat published new data on the number of researchers employed in the EU in 2021. 

According to the latest results, in 2021, the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers employed in the EU reached the milestone of 2 million, an improvement of more than 620 000 researchers compared to 10 years ago (1.38 million in 2011). When comparing to 2020, an additional 115 000 people joined the EU researcher ranks. The number of researchers in 2021 represented 1 % of the total labour force.

Within the EU, the number of researchers increased in almost all Member States between 2011 and 2021. In the case of Poland and Sweden, the total number more than doubled, totalling 135 700 and 100 100, respectively, in 2021. In relative terms, Hungary (88 %), Greece and Belgium (both 79 %) recorded the highest growth rates. In absolute terms, Germany, followed by France, Italy, Spain and Poland are the EU countries with the highest number of researchers employed.

In the EU, most researchers worked in the business enterprise sector (56 %) and the higher education sector (32 %), followed by the government sector (11 %). In 14 Member States, the business enterprise sector gathered the biggest shares of researchers, especially in Sweden and the Netherlands, where researchers in this sector represented 78 % and 70 % of the total number of researchers, respectively.

More information.