World rankings / DATA EXPLORER

THE GLOBAL INDEX #069

Researchers in R&D2024

Full-time-equivalent researchers in R&D per million people.

World Bank
Limited coverage The selected year has lower coverage than the default comparison year. Missing economies can materially affect ranks.
Comparable ranking year2023Latest published year: 2024
Economies with data28 / 217No observation: 189
First-ranked country or territoryHong Kong SAR China5,873.74 per million people

Top 10

per million people · 2024
02Macao SAR China
4,634.11
03Serbia
2,687.55
04Russia
2,638.56
05Cuba
2,171.26
06Georgia
1,896
07Algeria
1,763.99
08Tunisia
1,667.61
09Azerbaijan
1,662.53
10Belarus
1,567.81

Complete ranking

Download CSV ↓
Researchers in R&D · 2024 · per million people
RankCountry / territoryValue (per million people)Year
01Hong Kong SAR China5,873.742024
02Macao SAR China4,634.112024
03Serbia2,687.552024
04Russia2,638.562024
05Cuba2,171.262024
06Georgia1,8962024
07Algeria1,763.992024
08Tunisia1,667.612024
09Azerbaijan1,662.532024
10Belarus1,567.812024
11Saudi Arabia1,234.712024
12Egypt1,120.222024
13Armenia942.222024
14Uruguay937.572024
15North Macedonia888.072024
16Bahrain848.952024
17Kazakhstan758.012024
18Oman739.412024
19Bosnia & Herzegovina705.162024
20Mauritius688.532024
21Moldova649.942024
22Uzbekistan639.542024
23Mexico438.242024
24Kenya384.022024
25Panama250.472024
26Bhutan236.312024
27Kuwait144.752024
28Togo57.792024

How this ranking works

For annual statistics, the default is the newest year covering at least 70% of the maximum available country coverage, and at least 20 economies where possible. A ranking uses one year or report edition; missing observations are not replaced with another year. Newer years with lower coverage can be selected.

Intentional homicide rates and peace scores rank from lowest to highest; other indicators rank from highest to lowest. Ranks use original values and competition ranking for ties, for example 1, 2, 2, 4. Filtering or changing display order does not recalculate global ranks. Higher values are not necessarily better.

Statistics reflect the public source snapshot, not live measurements. Some series are modeled estimates or multi-year averages. See original metadata.

No observation (189)

Afghanistan · Albania · American Samoa · Andorra · Angola · Antigua & Barbuda · Argentina · Aruba · Australia · Austria · Bahamas · Bangladesh · Barbados · Belgium · Belize · Benin · Bermuda · Bolivia · Botswana · Brazil · British Virgin Islands · Brunei · Bulgaria · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cambodia · Cameroon · Canada · Cape Verde · Cayman Islands · Central African Republic · Chad · Channel Islands · Chile · China · Colombia · Comoros · Congo - Brazzaville · Congo - Kinshasa · Costa Rica · Croatia · Curaçao · Cyprus · Czechia · Côte d’Ivoire · Denmark · Djibouti · Dominica · Dominican Republic · Ecuador · El Salvador · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Estonia · Eswatini · Ethiopia · Faroe Islands · Fiji · Finland · France · French Polynesia · Gabon · Gambia · Germany · Ghana · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Grenada · Guam · Guatemala · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Guyana · Haiti · Honduras · Hungary · Iceland · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Ireland · Isle of Man · Israel · Italy · Jamaica · Japan · Jordan · Kiribati · Kosovo · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Latvia · Lebanon · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Madagascar · Malawi · Malaysia · Maldives · Mali · Malta · Marshall Islands · Mauritania · Micronesia · Monaco · Mongolia · Montenegro · Morocco · Mozambique · Myanmar (Burma) · Namibia · Nauru · Nepal · Netherlands · New Caledonia · New Zealand · Nicaragua · Niger · Nigeria · North Korea · Northern Mariana Islands · Norway · Pakistan · Palau · Palestinian Territories · Papua New Guinea · Paraguay · Peru · Philippines · Poland · Portugal · Puerto Rico · Qatar · Romania · Rwanda · Samoa · San Marino · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Singapore · Sint Maarten · Slovakia · Slovenia · Solomon Islands · Somalia · South Africa · South Korea · South Sudan · Spain · Sri Lanka · St. Kitts & Nevis · St. Lucia · St. Martin · St. Vincent & Grenadines · Sudan · Suriname · Sweden · Switzerland · Syria · São Tomé & Príncipe · Tajikistan · Tanzania · Thailand · Timor-Leste · Tonga · Trinidad & Tobago · Turkmenistan · Turks & Caicos Islands · Tuvalu · Türkiye · U.S. Virgin Islands · Uganda · Ukraine · United Arab Emirates · United Kingdom · United States · Vanuatu · Venezuela · Vietnam · Yemen · Zambia · Zimbabwe

Source & definition

Indicator definition
Full-time-equivalent researchers in R&D per million people.
Unit
per million people
Source & definition
World Bank · SP.POP.SCIE.RD.P6
Open original source ↗
Original metadata
The number of researchers engaged in Research &Development (R&D), expressed as per million. Researchers are professionals who conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models techniques instrumentation, software of operational methods. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development.

{
  "id": "SP.POP.SCIE.RD.P6",
  "name": "Researchers in R&D (per million people)",
  "unit": "",
  "source": {
    "id": "2",
    "value": "World Development Indicators"
  },
  "sourceNote": "The number of researchers engaged in Research &Development (R&D), expressed as per million. Researchers are professionals who conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models techniques instrumentation, software of operational methods. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development.",
  "sourceOrganization": "Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), date accessed: 2025-03-26, date published: 2025-02",
  "topics": [
    {
      "id": "14",
      "value": "Science & Technology "
    }
  ]
}