Belgium remains EU's biggest spender on research and development

Belgium spent 3.44 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development in 2022, the highest percentage of any EU country, the European statistics office Eurostat announced on Friday.

Combined, the EU spent 352 billion euros on research and development in 2022, preliminary figures show. This is more than 6 per cent more than in 2021, and an increase of 45 per cent since 2011. However, spending as a percentage of GDP fell from 2.27 per cent in 2021 to 2.22 per cent last year.

Apart from Belgium, three other countries spent more than 3 per cent of GDP on R&D in 2022: Sweden (3.40 per cent), Austria (3.20 per cent) and Germany (3.13 per cent). Belgium also recorded the highest increase in R&D expenditure in a decade: +1.16 percentage points.

Eight EU countries spent less than 1 per cent of GDP on R&D, the three lowest being Romania (0.47%), Malta (0.65%) and Latvia (0.74%).

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