Opinion - 08 January 2003
Benchmarking Australia's Investment in R&D* |
International comparison of R&D
intensities of Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD)
1 % GERD/GDP
2Per Capita GDP; US$, expressed as est.
purchasing power parity (2001)
**Israel (2001) 4.48%1 $20,0002 pop: 6.0 million |
Sweden (1999) 3.78%1 $24,7002 pop: 8.9 million |
Finland (2000) 3.37%1 $25,8002 pop: 5.2 million |
Japan (2000) 2.98%1 $27,2002 pop: 127.0 million |
United States (2000) 2.70%1 $36,3002 pop: 280.6 million |
S. Korea (2000) 2.68%1 $18,0002 pop: 48.3 million |
Switzerland (2000) 2.64%1 $31,1002 pop: 7.3 million |
Germany (2001) 2.52%1 $26,2002 pop: 83.3 million |
Iceland (1999) 2.33%1 $24,8002 pop: 0.28 million |
France (2000) 2.15%1 $25,4002 pop: 59.8 million |
Denmark (1999) 2.09%1 $28,0002 pop: 5.4 million |
**Taiwan (2000) 2.05%1 $17,2002 pop: 22.5 million |
Netherlands (1999) 2.02%1 $25,8002 pop: 16.1 million |
Belgium (1999) 1.96%1 $26,1002 pop: 10.3 million |
Canada (2001) 1.93%1 $27,7002 pop: 31.9 million |
**Singapore (2000) 1.88%1 $24,7002 pop: 4.5 million |
UK (2000) 1.86%1 $24,7002 pop: 59.8 million |
Austria (2001) 1.86%1 $27,0002 pop: 8.2 million |
Norway (2001) 1.70%1 $30,8002 pop: 4.5 million |
AUSTRALIA (2000) 1.53%1 $24,0002 pop: 19.5 million |
**Slovenia (2000) 1.52%1 $16,0002 pop: 1.9 million |
Czech Repub (2000) 1.35%1 $14,4002 pop: 10.3 million |
Ireland (1999) 1.21%1 $27,3002 pop: 3.9 million |
New Zealand (1997) 1.11%1 $19,5002 pop: 3.9 million |
**Russia (2000) 1.09%1 $8,3002 pop: 145.0 million |
Italy (1999) 1.04%1 $24,3002 pop: 57.8 million |
**China (2000) 1.00%1 $4,3002 pop: 1284.3 million |
Spain (2001) 0.96%1 $18,9002 pop: 40.1 million |
Hungary (2000) 0.81%1 $12,0002 pop: 10.1 million |
Portugal (1999) 0.75%1 $17,3002 pop: 10.1 million |
Poland (2000) 0.70%1 $8,8002 pop: 38.6 million |
Slovak Repub (2000) 0.69%1 $11,5002 pop: 5.4 million |
Greece (1999) 0.67%1 $17,9002 pop: 10.6 million |
Turkey (1999) 0.63%1 $6,7002 pop: 67.3 million |
Mexico (1999) 0.40%1 $9,0002 pop: 103.4 million |
**Romania (2000) 0.37%1 $6,8002 pop: 22.3 million |
Mean per capita GDP for the 19 nations above
Australia in % GERD/GDP = $25,870
Mean per capita GDP for the 16 nations below
Australia in % GERD/GDP = $13,900
*The material for % GERD/GDP is taken from the
Appendix of the Group of Eight's
Research and Innovation: an update.
Per Capita GDP and population figures are from the
CIA World Factbook
2002.
**The following non-OECD countries, which are included in the above comparison, were reported in the OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators Database: Israel, China, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Taiwan.
(GERD/GDP)
OECD, weighted average = 2.21%
OECD, 20 country average = 2.10%
OECD, all country (29) average = 1.74%
The weighted average of all OECD countries is the sum of all GERD as a percentage of the sum of all GDPs. This is the official average reported by the OECD.
The average of the GERD/GDP ratios for 20 selected OECD countries had been reported annually in the Australian Science and Technology Budget Statements until 2000-01.
The average of the GERD/GDP ratios for all OECD countries has been adopted by the Australian Government in the 2001-02 Science and Technology Budget Information Package.
Alex Reisner
The Funneled Web