Leading countries by R&D spending worldwide 2022

The United States is the leading country worldwide in terms of spending on research and development (R&D), with R&D expenditure exceeding 760 billion purchasing power parity (PPP) U.S. dollars. China is invested about 620 billion U.S. dollars into R&D.

Health and technology

Overall, health and technology dominate R&D spending globally. In 2022, health constituted nearly 20% of all R&D spending, while hardware producers accounted for over 22% and software producers accounted for over 20%. Tech companies such as Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet contribute massively to tech spending, while spending continues to grow in areas such as medical technology and pharmaceuticals.

Other sources of R&D spending

Other sources of R&D spending include the automotive industry, chemicals, and manufacturing. Notably, within the automotive industry, the EU leads in spending, contributing nearly 61 billion euros to the 145 billion euros spent on automotive R&D globally. By company, Volkswagen spent the most at 15.6 billion U.S. dollars, while in the United States, Ford spent the most on R&D at 7.6 billion U.S. dollars.