Congressional Member’s Report Card

Congressional Member’s Report Card

Doubting Science. Why?

Global Rankings - Science & Engineering

GLOBAL R&D EXPENDITURES – BENCHMARKS

  • A notable trend over the past decade has been the growth in R&D spending in the regions of East-Southeast Asia and South Asia, compared with the other major R&D-performing areas.

    The annual increase of China’s R&D, averaging 10.6% annually from 2010 to 2019, continues to greatly exceed that of the United States. Consequently, the share of global R&D performed by the United States declined from 29% in 2010 to 27% in 2019, whereas the share by China increased from 15% to 22%.

  • Several countries with smaller economies, including Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan, have greater R&D intensities than the United States.

  • Within most of the top R&D-performing countries, the business sector funds the most R&D—60% or more. In each of the leading Asian countries—Japan, China, and South Korea—the business sector accounted for more than 75% of R&D funding. The business share of total R&D funding was lower but still more than 60% in the United States and Germany.

R&D INTENSITY BY SELECTED COUNTRY

SHARES OF WORLDWIDE R&D EXPENDITURES