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Researchers in R&D

Tier A· Official

Professionals engaged in research and development per million people — a measure of a country's research workforce.

100 = most researchers per capita, 0 = fewest

Mixed reference years (2002–2024). This metric uses each country's most recent available year, so countries are not all measured in the same year — cross-country comparison is weakened. Each row shows its own reference year.

How this score is built

Researchers in R&D per million people — World Bank indicator SP.POP.SCIE.RD.P6 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics). Direction is higher_better. The range spans three orders of magnitude (a handful to >8,000 per million), so we normalize on a log scale. The raw figure is shown. Coverage is uneven; the reference year is shown per country.

Map

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0
100No data

100 = most researchers per capita, 0 = fewest

Full ranking

144 countries with data. Rank 1 = best. Click a column to sort; click a country for its full provenance.

Rank ↑CountryScoreRaw value
1stLiechtensteinLIE
100100
18,129.8 per million people
2ndSouth KoreaKOR
93.1293
9,471.83 per million people
3rdSwedenSWE
92.4792
8,910.74 per million people
4thDenmarkDNK
92.3992
8,837.52 per million people
5thSingaporeSGP
92.3292
8,781.74 per million people
6thFinlandFIN
91.7492
8,314.9 per million people
7thNorwayNOR
90.5891
7,450.59 per million people
8thAustriaAUT
89.3589
6,633.65 per million people
9thNetherlandsNLD
89.2389
6,563.34 per million people
10thSwitzerlandCHE
88.4788
6,107.96 per million people
11thBelgiumBEL
88.2688
5,990.13 per million people
12thPortugalPRT
88.2588
5,983.27 per million people
13thIcelandISL
88.288
5,952.52 per million people
14thGermanyDEU
88.1588
5,926.07 per million people
15thHong KongHKG
88.0688
5,873.74 per million people
16thIrelandIRL
87.8488
5,752.8 per million people
17thCanadaCAN
87.688
5,624.27 per million people
18thSloveniaSVN
87.5888
5,616.35 per million people
19thJapanJPN
87.5788
5,608.63 per million people
20thNew ZealandNZL
87.2387
5,435.46 per million people
21stFranceFRA
87.187
5,368.64 per million people
22ndLuxembourgLUX
87.0887
5,359.07 per million people
23rdGreeceGRC
86.9387
5,283.37 per million people
24thUnited StatesUSA
86.2286
4,937.49 per million people
25thEstoniaEST
85.9286
4,800.44 per million people
26thMacauMAC
85.5486
4,634.11 per million people
27thAustraliaAUS
85.3985
4,568.57 per million people
27thHungaryHUN
85.3985
4,567.08 per million people
29thCzechiaCZE
85.2485
4,504.58 per million people
30thUnited KingdomGBR
85.1785
4,472.69 per million people
31stLithuaniaLTU
83.1783
3,703.86 per million people
32ndPolandPOL
83.0983
3,675.06 per million people
33rdSpainESP
83.0383
3,653.8 per million people
34thSlovakiaSVK
82.5983
3,506.62 per million people
35thItalyITA
80.4180
2,855.13 per million people
36thSerbiaSRB
79.7780
2,687.55 per million people
37thTürkiyeTUR
79.680
2,644.66 per million people
38thRussiaRUS
79.5880
2,638.56 per million people
39thUnited Arab EmiratesARE
79.4579
2,606.78 per million people
40thCroatiaHRV
78.7579
2,440.28 per million people
41stBulgariaBGR
78.5779
2,400.57 per million people
42ndMaltaMLT
78.3778
2,354.97 per million people
43rdIranIRN
77.8478
2,239.74 per million people
44thLatviaLVA
77.6178
2,190.87 per million people
45thCubaCUB
77.5178
2,171.26 per million people
46thChinaCHN
77.1977
2,107.27 per million people
47thGeorgiaGEO
76.0776
1,896 per million people
48thFaroe IslandsFRO
75.6776
1,824.74 per million people
49thAlgeriaDZA
75.3175
1,763.99 per million people
50thCyprusCYP
74.8375
1,686.47 per million people
51stTunisiaTUN
74.7175
1,667.61 per million people
52ndAzerbaijanAZE
74.6875
1,662.53 per million people
53rdThailandTHA
74.2274
1,591.97 per million people
54thBelarusBLR
74.0674
1,567.81 per million people
55thArgentinaARG
72.1872
1,312.75 per million people
56thSaudi ArabiaSAU
71.5372
1,234.71 per million people
57thMalaysiaMYS
71.3971
1,218.33 per million people
58thEgyptEGY
70.571
1,120.22 per million people
59thMoroccoMAR
70.1470
1,083.43 per million people
60thRomaniaROU
70.1370
1,082.11 per million people
61stQatarQAT
68.7369
947.779 per million people
62ndArmeniaARM
68.6669
942.221 per million people
63rdUruguayURY
68.6169
937.57 per million people
64thBrazilBRA
68.2268
903.201 per million people
65thNorth MacedoniaMKD
68.0468
888.071 per million people
66thBahrainBHR
67.5668
848.945 per million people
67thVietnamVNM
67.467
836.107 per million people
68thMontenegroMNE
66.4566
764.419 per million people
69thKazakhstanKAZ
66.3666
758.006 per million people
70thOmanOMN
66.166
739.414 per million people
71stChileCHL
65.6266
707.056 per million people
72ndBosnia and HerzegovinaBIH
65.5966
705.156 per million people
73rdGreenlandGRL
65.5466
701.946 per million people
74thMauritiusMUS
65.3465
688.527 per million people
75thMoldovaMDA
64.7365
649.944 per million people
76thUzbekistanUZB
64.5665
639.537 per million people
77thUkraineUKR
63.6364
586.079 per million people
78thPalestinePSE
63.664
584.353 per million people
79thJordanJOR
63.4563
576.009 per million people
80thSenegalSEN
63.3863
572.421 per million people
81stMongoliaMNG
62.6763
535.374 per million people
82ndCosta RicaCRI
62.1162
507.758 per million people
83rdBruneiBRN
62.0862
506.181 per million people
84thTrinidad and TobagoTTO
61.7962
492.716 per million people
85thPakistanPAK
61.3861
473.716 per million people
86thSouth AfricaZAF
60.6961
444.163 per million people
87thMexicoMEX
60.5561
438.245 per million people
88thAlbaniaALB
60.3260
428.7 per million people
89thEcuadorECU
59.5960
400.261 per million people
90thIndonesiaIDN
59.4659
395.342 per million people
91stKenyaKEN
59.1559
384.024 per million people
92ndPuerto RicoPRI
57.6258
332.378 per million people
93rdPhilippinesPHL
57.2357
320.279 per million people
94thMonacoMCO
56.8857
309.905 per million people
95thGuamGUM
56.2756
292.485 per million people
96thIndiaIND
54.9955
259.263 per million people
97thPanamaPAN
54.6255
250.474 per million people
98thBhutanBTN
54.0154
236.307 per million people
99thNamibiaNAM
53.4853
224.811 per million people
100thHondurasHND
51.5752
187.837 per million people
101stVenezuelaVEN
51.1251
179.96 per million people
102ndBotswanaBWA
51.1151
179.773 per million people
103rdIraqIRQ
50.1650
164.285 per million people
104thSeychellesSYC
48.9449
146.542 per million people
105thKuwaitKWT
48.8149
144.754 per million people
106thSyriaSYR
48.4648
139.938 per million people
107thParaguayPRY
48.3748
138.792 per million people
108thEswatiniSWZ
48.348
137.916 per million people
109thRwandaRWA
47.9348
133.12 per million people
110thCongoCOG
47.4247
126.969 per million people
111thCape VerdeCPV
47.2547
124.926 per million people
112thAmerican SamoaASM
45.4945
105.76 per million people
113thZimbabweZWE
44.3744
95.1253 per million people
114thSri LankaLKA
44.2944
94.4866 per million people
115thColombiaCOL
43.8144
90.2473 per million people
116thEthiopiaETH
43.6644
89.0384 per million people
117thGhanaGHA
43.4843
87.4797 per million people
118thUgandaUGA
42.743
81.306 per million people
119thIvory CoastCIV
40.1640
63.993 per million people
120thBoliviaBOL
40.0140
63.0569 per million people
121stNepalNPL
39.4239
59.658 per million people
122ndTogoTGO
39.0839
57.794 per million people
123rdChadTCD
38.8939
56.7212 per million people
124thEl SalvadorSLV
38.6539
55.4703 per million people
125thGambiaGMB
37.7338
50.8608 per million people
126thBurkina FasoBFA
36.837
46.5781 per million people
127thMozambiqueMOZ
36.2936
44.4114 per million people
128thZambiaZMB
35.6836
41.9015 per million people
129thPapua New GuineaPNG
33.233
33.1588 per million people
130thMadagascarMDG
33.1333
32.9443 per million people
131stLesothoLSO
32.933
32.2385 per million people
132ndCambodiaKHM
32.2732
30.3892 per million people
133rdMyanmarMMR
31.4131
28.0089 per million people
134thNigerNER
3131
26.939 per million people
135thMaliMLI
30.6431
26.0379 per million people
136thMalawiMWI
30.2830
25.1683 per million people
137thBurundiBDI
29.0829
22.4816 per million people
138thNigeriaNGA
28.9129
22.1201 per million people
139thDominican RepublicDOM
27.8628
20.0377 per million people
140thTanzaniaTZA
27.4727
19.317 per million people
141stAngolaAGO
27.2627
18.9358 per million people
142ndLaosLAO
25.2325
15.6288 per million people
143rdDR CongoCOD
20.6121
10.1052 per million people
144thGuatemalaGTM
00
1.44569 per million people
Researchers in R&D — country ranking · WorldScore