Which Countries Do the Most Research and Development?

Research and Development is a long-term boost to Human understanding: science improves our knowledge of the world, and new products such as better batteries for devices can improve our quality of lives. The world needs discoveries to help combat climate change, mitigate starvation and fight disease. The ten countries that commit most to Research and Development (as a percent of their GDP PPP) are mostly predictable; Japan, Finland, Sweden and Denmark top most developmental indices of any kind. Also in the list can be found technologically savvy South Korea and Taiwan and a few well-developed European countries. The only surprise (for some) is Israel, sitting 2nd in the list.

The Social and Moral Development Index concentrates on moral issues and human rights, violence, public health, equality, tolerance, freedom and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and environmentalism, and on some technological issues. A country scores higher for achieving well in those areas, and for sustaining that achievement in the long term. Those countries towards the top of this index can truly said to be setting good examples and leading humankind onwards into a bright, humane, and free future. See: Which are the Best Countries in the World? The Social and Moral Development Index. This Research and Development data forms one of the inputs into the Social and Moral Development Index calculations.

This data comes from the UN's World Bank (via UNESCO) and from the OECD - I've used whichever data is the latest. Where both institutions produce data for the same countries, their values are generally very similar. In addition, their definitions of R&D are also similar, as below:

“Gross domestic spending on R&D is defined as the total expenditure (current and capital) on R&D carried out by all resident companies, research institutes, university and government laboratories, etc., in a country. It includes R&D funded from abroad, but excludes domestic funds for R&D performed outside the domestic economy.”

OECD (2016)₁

“Expenditures for research and development are current and capital expenditures (both public and private) on creative work undertaken systematically to increase knowledge, including knowledge of humanity, culture, and society, and the use of knowledge for new applications. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development.”

World Bank (2012)₂

Full results of all countries' Research and Development Expenditure as a Percent of GDP PPP: