Top 10 Countries with the Largest Research Budgets in 2022: Where Does Indonesia Stand?

Several countries appear committed to advancing their nations with strong databases and research. This is evident in the substantial budgets allocated for research and development.

The R&D World Institute observed changes in research and development (R&D) investment in academia, government, and organizations across 116 countries.

The R&D World team estimates that US$2.476 trillion will be invested globally in research and development efforts in 2022. This represents a 5.43% increase from the US$2.348 trillion spent in 2021.

The United States holds the top position, with gross expenditure on research reaching US$679.4 billion. This is an increase from US$643.8 billion in 2021. The US research budget ratio is estimated at 3.07% of GDP in 2022.

China comes in second, with gross R&D expenditure reaching US$551.1 billion. This also represents an increase from the previous budget of US$507 billion in 2021.

Japan is third, with gross expenditure of US$182.2 billion in 2022. This also shows an increase from the previous gross budget of US$176.6 billion in 2021.

Germany and South Korea occupy the fourth and fifth positions, with gross expenditures on research of US$143.1 billion and US$106.1 billion respectively in 2022. The remaining countries are included in the chart above.

What about Indonesia's position?

Out of the 40 countries featured by R&D World, Indonesia ranks 34th, with a budget of US$8.2 billion in 2022.

R&D World notes that Indonesia has the lowest ratio of research budget to GDP, at only 0.24% in 2022.

"The ratio of research and development expenditure to GDP varies from country to country, with the highest at 4.8% (Israel) and the lowest at 0.24% (Indonesia)—for the top 40 research spending countries," the team wrote in its report.

Here are the top 10 countries with the highest gross expenditure on research and development in 2022:

* United States US$679.4 billion
* China US$551.1 billion
* Japan US$182.2 billion
* Germany US$143 billion
* South Korea US$106.1 billion
* France US$68.5 billion
* India US$65.2 billion
* United Kingdom US$54.9 billion
* Russia US$52.2 billion
* Brazil US$37 billion

(Also read: 7 Companies That Spend the Most on R&D in the World)