Germany · R&D Spending · % of GDP

## What this measures

Gross domestic expenditure on research and development in Germany, as a percentage of GDP, one value per year, dated December 31. It counts R&D done by businesses, government, universities and private non-profits, current and capital spending alike.

## Why it matters

R&D intensity is the standard measure of how much an economy invests in new technology and knowledge. Businesses read it to judge where innovation capacity, skilled research jobs and future productivity are being built, and governments set targets on it.

## How to read it

Higher means a larger share of output goes to research. Compare across countries in the same year: the share already scales for economy size. UNESCO publishes with a lag of about two years, so the newest year is usually two years back.

## What it does not say

It measures spending, not results such as patents or products. A country's share can rise because GDP fell. Methods and coverage of business R&D surveys differ between countries and change over time, and figures are revised.

## Source

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), via World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator `GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS`. Licence per the World Bank's indicator metadata: CC BY 4.0. Attribution: World Bank WDI (CC BY 4.0), compiled from UNESCO Institute for Statistics data. Palanor reads it each month (/api/cron/worldbank-sync) and rewrites the history, so revisions carry through.