Top 10 countries by R&D spending: China overtakes US. See where India ranks

In contrast, countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Russia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom recorded declines in their R&D spending shares.

Where do China and the US rank globally?

China emerged as the world’s largest R&D spender in 2024, nearly tying with the United States.

Its expenditure reached $785.9 billion, marking an almost 20-fold increase since 2000.

China was also the biggest gainer, increasing its share of global R&D by more than 23 percentage points.

The US ranked second, allocating $781.8 billion to R&D in 2024, roughly double its spending over the past 24 years.

However, the US saw a significant decline of 9.7 percentage points in its share of global R&D.

Japan, which ranked third, experienced a similar trend, with its share falling by 7.2 percentage points.

The world’s top 10 largest countries by R&D spending in 2024 (measured in dollars at 2015 purchasing power parity):

Reflecting the growing significance of innovation-driven growth across advanced and emerging economies, here are the top 10 countries spending the most on R&D in 2024:

What is India’s rank?

India ranked seventh globally, with R&D spending of $75.73 billion in 2024. While this figure is about one-tenth of China’s expenditure, it represents a more than threefold increase from $20.8 billion over the past two decades.

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