R&D personnel - Researchers in R&D

Topics Research and Development R&D personnel

Republic of Korea is the top country by researchers in R&D in the world. As of 2021, researchers in R&D in Republic of Korea was 9,082 number per million people that accounts for 4.66% of the world's researchers in R&D. The top 5 countries (others are Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway) account for 20.52% of it. The world's total researchers in R&D was estimated at 195,026 number per million people in 2021.

Researchers in R&D are professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge, products, processes, methods, or systems and in the management of the projects concerned. Postgraduate PhD students (ISCED97 level 6) engaged in R&D are included.

Researchers in R&D (number per million people)

	2000	2005	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Australia	3,492		4,594
Cambodia								31
China	552	860	901	974	1,031	1,082	1,104	1,165	1,211	1,238	1,319	1,486	1,602	1,687
Hong Kong SAR, China	1,156	2,601	3,050	3,024	3,123	3,295	3,497	3,472	3,652	3,709	3,972	4,235	4,349	4,585
Indonesia	212								180	216	218	391	400
Japan	5,112	5,328	5,120	5,127	5,052	5,169	5,353	5,198	5,235	5,331	5,362	5,410	5,495	5,638
Korea, Rep.	2,323	3,761	5,425	5,903	6,388	6,454	6,864	7,018	7,056	7,451	7,914	8,323	8,615	9,082
Macao SAR, China		617	636	596	719	897	1,017	1,261	2,614	3,177	3,471	3,629	3,866	4,132
Malaysia	284		1,448	1,632	1,769		2,020	2,265	2,350		2,140		726
Mongolia													332
Myanmar										30	34	30	33	19
New Zealand		3,161		3,733		4,045		5,492		5,099		5,724		5,102
Papua New Guinea									33
Philippines		81		84		187		106			172
Singapore	4,143	5,544	6,285	6,445	6,402	6,631	6,632	6,978	6,897	6,778	6,787	7,276	7,225
Thailand		313		531		777	945	847	1,183	1,321	1,718	1,750	2,024
Vietnam						687		686		715		766		779
Austria		3,472	4,380	4,432	4,722	4,783	5,011	5,074	5,401	5,417	5,683	5,960	5,830	6,342
Azerbaijan												1,694	1,712	1,729
Belarus													1,434	1,394
Belgium	2,982	3,161	3,767	3,910	4,147	4,188	4,562	4,742	4,811	4,758	5,032	5,280	5,411	6,582
Bosnia and Herzegovina		61			156	228	283	353	406	470	458	449	444	443
Bulgaria	1,166	1,282	1,442	1,572	1,503	1,646	1,783	1,939	2,199	2,092	2,311	2,391	2,378	2,339
Croatia	1,479	1,291	1,623	1,570	1,540	1,511	1,424	1,491	1,837	1,857	1,912	2,128	2,215	2,331
Cyprus	439	930	1,105	1,092	1,022	1,027	1,051	1,011	1,059	1,210	1,408	1,658	1,740	1,743
Czechia	1,353	2,353	2,799	2,926	3,162	3,259	3,428	3,619	3,547	3,721	3,911	4,034	4,195	4,569
Denmark		5,194	6,760	7,042	7,172	7,102	7,346	7,561	7,874	7,683	7,636	7,727	7,667	7,708
Estonia	1,903	2,452	3,058	3,393	3,458	3,338	3,285	3,188	3,296	3,552	3,766	3,770	3,836	4,038
Finland		7,559	7,741	7,442	7,493	7,223	7,022	6,856	6,544	6,732	6,873	7,246	7,549	7,871
France	2,942	3,358	3,911	3,981	4,114	4,200	4,282	4,386	4,467	4,625	4,757	4,870	4,986	5,175
Georgia						604	1,132	1,366	1,391	1,390	1,553	1,800	1,812	1,717
Germany	3,162	3,350	4,035	4,162	4,325	4,343	4,305	4,733	4,863	5,087	5,240	5,428	5,414	5,536
Greece		1,763		2,239	2,257	2,672	2,744	3,203	2,728	3,264	3,441	3,685	4,074	4,326
Hungary	1,410	1,575	2,134	2,308	2,400	2,526	2,653	2,568	2,625	2,901	3,845	4,021	4,309	4,452
Iceland		7,333		7,085		5,737		5,904	6,629	6,055	5,879			6,940
Ireland	2,276	2,845	3,140	3,367	4,912	5,182	5,332	5,283	5,185	5,155	4,750	4,836	4,859	5,251
Italy	1,161	1,420	1,733	1,771	1,842	1,927	1,958	2,088	2,222	2,337	2,541	2,689	2,632	2,678
Kazakhstan			365	380	604	729	791	771	689	662	663	634	686	626
Latvia	1,583	1,460	1,843	1,890	1,890	1,775	1,855	1,805	1,590	1,773	1,777	1,886	2,135	2,405
Lithuania	2,150	2,247	2,722	2,690	2,604	2,810	3,014	2,741	2,891	2,995	3,093	3,364	3,591	3,935
Luxembourg	3,805	4,832	5,203	5,530	4,405	4,665	4,785	4,638	4,803	4,971	4,756	5,092	4,690	4,941
North Macedonia	653	536	527	440	605	667	827	847	843	719	788	775	775	744
Moldova		717	760	777	769	737	925	946	912	923	903	824	775	781
Monaco		311
Montenegro				644		638	664	825	709	697	758	743
Netherlands	2,661	2,948	3,240	3,682	4,374	4,921	4,951	4,911	5,129	5,302	5,535	5,640	5,866	6,074
Norway		4,602	5,444	5,533	5,583	5,604	5,722	5,929	6,120	6,395	6,484	6,737	6,765	7,228
Poland	1,439	1,611	1,672	1,661	1,735	1,850	2,037	2,141	2,288	2,974	3,057	3,136	3,238	3,534
Portugal	1,631	2,009	3,918	4,164	4,028	3,603	3,657	3,725	3,996	4,356	4,627	4,879	5,163	5,473
Romania	932	1,084	969	793	893	924	904	875	909	887	876	887	941	985
Russian Federation	3,442	3,224	3,086	3,124	3,090	3,064	3,087	3,110	2,960	2,826	2,787	2,749	2,725
Serbia			1,503	1,616	1,635	1,719	1,823	2,060	2,122	2,068	2,076	2,087	2,150	2,207
Slovak Republic	1,852	2,031	2,815	2,839	2,825	2,721	2,721	2,657	2,607	2,801	3,001	3,115	3,166	3,211
Slovenia	2,184	2,626	3,755	4,252	4,297	4,204	4,135	3,805	3,893	4,441	4,789	4,980	5,125	5,223
Spain	1,887	2,532	2,896	2,791	2,709	2,638	2,629	2,637	2,727	2,864	3,004	3,068	3,071	3,252
Sweden		6,093	5,280	5,168	5,181	6,686	6,873	6,811	7,108	7,309	7,433	7,698	7,759	8,131
Switzerland	3,645				4,499			5,310		5,259		5,563		6,023
Turkiye	363	573	885	979	1,100	1,174	1,160	1,205	1,247	1,369	1,531	1,630	1,787	2,000
Ukraine			1,328	1,259	1,231	1,160	1,021	1,006	1,037	994	988	881	846	587
United Kingdom	2,904	4,131	4,105	3,988	4,031	4,179	4,286	4,397	4,448	4,491
Uzbekistan	662	633	547	578	516	511	505	501	510	500	480	421	427	525
Argentina	717	820	1,124	1,181	1,204	1,199	1,208	1,231	1,261	1,212	1,227	1,232	1,256	1,284
Bolivia	70		162
Brazil	295	510	687	739	789	839	888
Chile			322	356	394	338	431	460	500	500	529	512	519
Colombia						58	59	70	91	90
Costa Rica		123	381	405	336	353	566	493	523	379	344		366	399
Ecuador			142	181	283	353	402
El Salvador								64	67	65	73	75
Guatemala		30	25	25	27	18	21	23	23	14	13	15	17	15
Honduras								22		34	201	187
Mexico	229	419	345	351	253	257	265	287	322	320	317	335	358
Panama	96	105		120	38	40
Paraguay		77		55	184		166	199	132	147	152	169	141
Puerto Rico						264		334
Trinidad and Tobago										486	531	450	591
Uruguay	280		631	622	640	645	657	680	701	717	769	791	806	808
Venezuela, RB	62	123	203	232	297	365	273	247	292			231	289
Algeria		171								832
Bahrain							384
Egypt, Arab Rep.			472	471	495	517	646	643	659	648	658	791	805	822
Iran, Islamic Rep.			732		686	667		801		1,418		1,597
Iraq			418	427			66	63	62	102	107	117	135	162
Jordan								256	575	578
Kuwait	170	176	142	136	134		607	405	465	505	504	176	166
Malta		1,169	1,408	1,773	1,965	1,855	1,784	1,817	1,940	1,970	1,866	1,887	1,984	2,161
Morocco			722	848	853		1,029		1,081
Oman				159	179	134	182	222	250	251	296	382	373	330
Qatar					649			647			585			983
Saudi Arabia													435	692
Syrian Arab Republic								84
Tunisia			1,359	1,404	1,590	1,756	1,771	1,751	1,943	1,893	1,765	1,702	1,620	1,584
United Arab Emirates								2,067	2,491		2,516	2,537	2,612	2,666
West Bank and Gaza			333			589
Canada	3,534	4,264	4,696	4,835	4,684	4,678	4,596	4,582	4,428	4,467	4,758	4,894	5,076
United States	3,479	3,548	3,549	3,664	3,650	3,736	3,837	3,875	3,830	3,959	4,262	4,309	4,452
India	110	135	156					215			251		260
Pakistan		74		133		148		265		325		374		415
Sri Lanka	135		104			108	97	104	105	105	104		105
Angola				48					19
Botswana					163	174
Burkina Faso			47
Burundi					20						23
Cabo Verde				48			118
Chad									59
Congo, Rep.	33
Cote d'Ivoire		68
Congo, Dem. Rep.								10
Ethiopia		21	42			45				90
Ghana			37					87
Kenya			227
Lesotho				6				24
Madagascar	15	47	51	50					24	30	34
Malawi			50
Mali			29					30		32		57		29
Mauritius					177						464	540	553	557
Mozambique			40					44
Namibia							153
Niger		7				27
Rwanda						15			14			59
Senegal			379					581
Seychelles		152
South Africa		355	364	386	405	436	435	474	489	524	511	491	473
Eswatini								139
Tanzania			36			19
Gambia, The				30							50
Togo		33	34	34	35		38	36	32	38	48	46	45	45
Uganda			40				29
Zimbabwe					99

Researchers in R&D (number per million people)

Knoema

Legal