R&D Statistics

Internal Research and Development (R&D) expenditure amounted to 22,379 millions of euros in 2023, representing an increase of 15.8% over the previous year. This expense accounted for 1.49% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Business sector had the highest percentage of internal R&D expenditure, with 56.4% (0.84% of GDP). It was followed by the Higher Education sector, with 25.5% (0.38% of GDP).

In turn, internal R&D expenditure in the General Government sector accounted for 17.8% of domestic expenditure (0.27% of GDP). The remaining 0.3% was from the Non-Profit Private Institutions (NPI) sector.

R&D expenditure increased by 15.7% compared with the previous year in the Business sector, 13.6% in Higher Education and 19.9% in General Government.

Internal R&D activities were mainly financed in 2023 by the Business sector (48.0% of the total) and the General Government (38.3%).

By implementing sectors, internal R&D expenditure in the General Government and Higher Education was mainly financed by the General Government. On the other hand, 80.5% of the funding of internal R&D expenditure in the Business sector came from the sector itself.

A total of 282,415 full-time equivalent (FTE) persons were engaged in internal R&D activities in 2023, representing 13.3 per thousand of the total employed population and an increase of 7.2% over the previous year.

Researchers totalled 175,044 full-time equivalent persons, which accounted for 8.3 per thousand of the total employed population and an increase of 8.2% with respect to 2022.

40.9% of full-time equivalent in-house R&D personnel were women. The highest percentages of female participation were in General Government (54.5% of total employment) and in the SSPI (52.5%).

The autonomous communities with the highest growth rates in internal R&D spending in 2023 were Galicia (28.2%), Principado de Asturias (28.1%) and Illes Balears (22.4%).

In contrast, internal R&D expenditure saw the smallest increases in the autonomous city of Melilla (4.2%), in Castilla-La Mancha (6.0%) and in the autonomous city of Ceuta (6.5%).

In per capita terms, internal R&D expenditure amounted to 460.2 euros per inhabitant in 2023. The communities with the highest expenditure were the País Vasco (925.5 euros), Comunidad de Madrid (862.3) and Cataluña (668.7).

In contrast, those that recorded the lowest expenditure per inhabitant were the autonomous cities of Ceuta (51.1 euros), Melilla (73.7), and Canarias (138.1).

Companies in the Services sector accounted for 53.3% of expenditure on business internal R&D in 2023, while those in the Industry sector accounted for 45.0%.

By branches of activity, R&D Services (with 19.8% of total spending), Programming, consulting and other IT activities (12.3%) and Motor vehicles (12.0%) stood out.

The main objective of the Statistics on scientific research and technological development (R&D) activities is to measure the economic and human resources devoted to research by all sectors of the economy (companies, general governments, higher education and non-profit private institutions) in order to:

• Provide a tool for the management, planning, decision-making and control of national science policy.
• Provide statistical authorities with the information they request, obtained according to international standards that allow comparability across countries.

Type of survey:

annual continuous survey.

Population scope:

companies, general government, universities and higher education centres and non-profit private institutions engaged in R&D activities.

Geographical scope:

the whole national territory.

Results reference period:

year preceding the year of data collection.

Information reference period:

for expenditure: calendar year; for personnel: annual average and full-time equivalent (people/year).

Sample size:

45,000 companies, 531 public administration centres (including public hospitals), 90 universities, 133 higher education centres and 175 private non-profit institutions.

Sample type:

exhaustive for directory units and random for companies that are not included.

Collection method:

mixed system with mailshots and interviewer participation.

More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and Code of Best Practices.