Malta has been reported as having the lowest expenditure on Research and Development in the whole EU.
In 2005 the EU27 spent just over e200 billion on R & D. R&D intensity (i.e. expenditure as a percentage of GDP) in the EU27 stood at 1.84 per cent, the same as in 2004.
R&D intensity remained significantly lower in the EU27 than in other major economies. In 2004, R&D expenditure was 2.68 per cent of GDP in the United States, 3.18 per cent in Japan and reached 1.34 per cent in China in 2005.
R&D expenditure in the EU27 rose by 1.5 per cent in real terms on average per year between 2001 and 2005, compared to 1.7 per cent in the United States and 2 per cent in Japan between 2001 and 2004.
In 2004 the business sector financed 55 per cent of total EU27 R&D expenditure, while the corresponding share was 64 per cent in the United States, 75 per cent in Japan and 66 per cent in China.
This information comes from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Commission.
R&D intensity varies from 0.4 per cent of GDP in Cyprus and Romania to 3.9 per cent in Sweden
In 2005, the highest R&D intensities among the member States were registered in Sweden (3.86 per cent of GDP) and Finland (3.48 per cent), followed by Germany (2.51 per cent), Denmark (2.44 per cent), Austria (2.36 per cent) France (2.13 per cent) and Ireland (1.25 per cent).
The lowest intensities were found in Romania (0.39 per cent in 2004), Cyprus (0.40 per cent), Bulgaria (0.50 per cent) and Slovakia (0.51 per cent).
Annual average growth rates of R&D expenditure in real terms over the period 2001 to 2005 ranged from +18 per cent in Latvia, +17 per cent in Estonia, +15 per cent in Cyprus and +11 per cent in Lithuania to -2 per cent in Belgium and Slovenia and -1 per cent in Slovakia.
Largest shares of R&D were financed by business sector in Luxembourg, Finland, Germany and Sweden
The business sector finances the highest share of EU27 expenditure on R&D (55 per cent), followed by the government sector (35 per cent) and funding from abroad (8 per cent).
Among member States, Luxembourg (80 per cent) recorded the largest share of R&D expenditure financed by the business sector in 2004, followed by Finland (69 per cent), Germany (67 per cent), Sweden (65 per cent), Belgium and Denmark (both 60 per cent).
Three member States registered shares for the business sector of 20 per cent or less: Malta and Cyprus (both 19 per cent) and Lithuania (20 per cent).