Catalina Espinosa
Research expert covering society, economy, and politics for Europe and the EU
Research and development worldwide - statistics & facts
In 2022, the total global R&D expenditures amounted to almost 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars (once local currencies are adjusted for purchasing power parity). The United States and China are by far the two largest spenders globally. Research and development (R&D) refers to the activities that governments and corporations undertake to create new products and services, and/or improve existing products and services. R&D encompasses both the work done by engineers to develop new products and the research conducted by industrial scientists that may lead to future, unspecified products. R&D is an expensive process since it requires significant investment in advanced materials and equipment.
Leading R&D industries
The three industries accounting for the highest share of R&D spending worldwide are information and communication technology (ICT) software producers, healthcare industries, and hardware producers, which collectively account for over 53 percent of global R&D expenditure. Although all these sectors have a global presence, different regions outspend each other in various areas: while the United States and the EU are the largest R&D spenders within aerospace and defense, China dominates R&D spending in construction. R&D-intensive industries also have differing levels of importance to different economies, with a high share of the major companies within healthcare and software producers based in the U.S..Leading R&D companies
Amazon tops the list of largest corporate R&D spenders, investing over 88 billion U.S. dollars in R&D in 2024. Most of the other major spenders were producers of ICT. This is a result not only of their need to create new consumer products, but also because many of these companies are at the cutting edge of developing future high-growth technologies like artificial intelligence. Corporate investment in healthcare R&D is also expected to remain high in the future.Influence of global challenges on the R&D sectror
Of course, all market-based projections made before the global COVID-19 pandemic need to be taken with caution. However, key R&D markets such as healthcare and computing have been relied upon in global efforts to deal with the crisis: pharmaceutical R&D has been necessary to develop a vaccine, while computing and software technology have helped reduce social contact. Moreover, countries are increasing R&D spending within aerospace and defense, as global affairs become more tense. Finally, R&D spending within sectors such as renewable energy will be a key part of tackling climate change.
