International comparison of R&D personnel as a share of the labour force
In short
- In 2021, 18 out of each 1,000 people of the Dutch labour force worked in R&D.
- This is less than in Denmark and Belgium, but more than in Germany, France and the UK.
- The share of researchers in the Netherlands has risen sharply since 2013 (last break in the trend).
| other R&D-staff | researchers | |
| BEL | 8,208841525 | 14,57597261 |
| IRL | 10,19097241 | 10,71100355 |
| KOR | 3,783515965 | 16,74331686 |
| DNK | 5,543070308 | 14,54829734 |
| FIN | 4,595621477 | 15,47531296 |
| AUT | 6,737962686 | 12,31723615 |
| NLD | 7,149076657 | 11,22587444 |
| NOR | 4,491021455 | 13,50876792 |
| SWE | 2,452495038 | 15,16255428 |
| DEU | 6,806452641 | 10,74997803 |
| CHE | 7,197674442 | 9,735222862 |
| FRA | 5,392758194 | 11,08096451 |
| CZE | 6,829978604 | 8,974604233 |
| EU27 | 5,199018334 | 9,256412548 |
| JAP | 3,454512475 | 10,24625486 |
| GRC | 3,553094842 | 9,849332774 |
| CAN | 3,780041018 | 9,55831744 |
| UK | 4,455781665 | 8,86028996 |
| SGP | 1,818735022 | 11,46481865 |
| ITA | 6,881465146 | 6,281491071 |
| POR | 2,486292985 | 10,45571441 |
| ESP | 4,109314051 | 6,642419198 |
| CHN | 4,243336153 | 3,083037783 |
Belgium in the lead
Belgium is the largest with 23 R&D workers per 1,000 labour force. Ireland, South Korea, Denmark and Finland follow with 20 out of 1,000, Austria with 19 out of 1,000. The Netherlands has 18 employees in R&D per 1,000 people in the labor force. This puts the Netherlands above the EU27 average of 15. South Korea has the most researchers per 1,000 working population: 17. In the Netherlands it is 11 out of 1,000. That's above the EU27 average of 9.
Increase since 2013
The underlying data shows an increase since 2013 for the majority of countries in both the share of R&D personnel and the share of researchers. Countries with a strong growth of the total R&D workforce are, for example, Belgium, Austria, Norway and South Korea. The share of researchers is growing strongly in South Korea, Italy, Greece and Belgium, among others.
The number of researchers per 1,000 persons in the Netherlands was still below the OECD average in 2011. In 2019 it is two percentage points above the OECD average (which is unavailable for 2020).
For an explanation of the used definitions and acronyms we kindly refer to the web page Definitions for Science in Figures.
Downloads
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Download factsheet R&D personnel international
R&D personnel international
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