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International comparison of R&D personnel as a share of the labour force

data publication
Science in Figures
03 June 2025
R&D personnel
In this data publication we show the relative share of R&D personnel in the total labour force, differentiated by two main categories: "researchers" and "other R&D personnel".

In short

  • In 2023, 19 out of each 1,000 people of the Dutch labour force worked in R&D.
  • This is less than in Belgium, Denmark and South-Korea, but more than in Germany, Switzerland and France.
  • The share of researchers per 1,000 people in the Dutch labour force has risen by 3 since 2013 (last break in the trend), comparable to the average growth in OECD-countries.
Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI) 2025-I
Notes: UK: 2017, Switzerland: 2021, Canada, Singapore and OECD-average: 2022. There are no data for the United States total because data on total R&D personnel for the United States is based on a different definition and is an underestimation.

Belgium in the lead

Belgium is the country where, relative to the labor force, most workers work in R&D: 24 R&D workers per 1,000 labor force. Denmark, Finland and South Korea follow with 22 out of 1,000, Austria with 21 out of 1,000, Sweden and Spain 20 out of 1,000. The Netherlands has 19 employees in R&D per 1,000 people in the labor force. This puts the Netherlands above the OECD and EU27 averages of 15. Sweden and South Korea has the most researchers per 1,000 working population: 17. In the Netherlands it is 12 out of 1,000. That's above the OECD and EU27 averages of 10.

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, China and South Korea. The share of researchers is growing strongly in China, Belgium and South Korea.

The number of researchers per 1,000 persons in the Netherlands was still below the OECD average in 2011. In 2022 it is three percentage points above the OECD average.
 

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